To Live Again
by MagicallyInclined
Summary: **ON HOLD** All Harry has ever known is how to fight and survive. When he suddenly finds himself in another world, will he be able to finally lead a normal life? HPLotR Xover. Will contain slash.
1. Through the Veil

**A/N: This story is actually the sequel of another story which I haven't written yet. I was originally going to wait until I finished _To Do It Right_, then maybe write another story, then write _War for the World_ (this story's prequel) and _then_ this one. But while I was browsing I found some other good HP/LOTR stories and became inspired. Or impatient. Whatever. So I decided 'what the hell' and here is the sequel sans prequel.**

**In terms of the prequel; _War for the World_ happens solely in the HP universe just as this story happens solely in the LotR universe. Though I might make references to what happens/happened in WftW, you won't need to read it to make sense of this story. I'll try not to have too many spoilers for the prequel in this story, but I'm afraid it's inevitable.**

**To make sense of this story you have to be familiar with the Harry Potter series, the fifth book in particular.**

**Oh, and I don't own Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. But I wish I did. **

**Enjoy.**

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Sirius ducked under the jet of red light heading toward him and laughed at his opponent.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" he yelled.¹

Sirius was having the most fun he's had all year. Baring the fact that his godson somehow decided it was a good idea for him and his friends to leave Hogwarts, break into the ministry of magic (the department of mysteries no less!), and walk right into a death eater ambush of course.

Make no mistake, once this battle was finished he and his godson were having words on acting too rash!

But it was nice to finally get out of that accursed moldy house where his only constant company was the screeching portrait and psychotic house-elf; both of whom wanted him dead and worse. When he was younger Sirius used to go stir crazy just sitting still for half an hour, let alone having to stay in his own personal hell in a forced house arrest for a whole year! If anyone should have been allowed to have a more active role in the Order, it was him. Yet it was everyone else who got to fight the death eaters responsible for putting _him_ in Azkaban for 12 years and protect _his_ godson while he could do nothing. All he ever heard was "You know you can't leave headquarters Sirius…" or "Don't be so rash…." he wasn't allowed to do _anything_!

Not this time though. His godson, his reason for surviving 12 years of torment, hell, his reason for living was in danger and _no one_ was going to stop him from coming to help.

Unfortunately as Sirius was momentarily distracted by his thoughts, his _dear_ cousin Bellatrix Lestrange whom he'd been fighting took the slight advantage to win the duel.

Suddenly Sirius felt a curse hit him square in the chest. He didn't even see her raise her wand! But it was no big deal. She only had a short time to curse him while he was distracted, therefore she didn't have enough time to use a very powerful or deadly hex. This one would only knock him out for a moment then he'd be back on his feet showing her why he was a legendary prankster while she was nothing more than an insane bitch.

Unfortunately, Sirius never noticed the forbidding veil right behind him.

"SIRIUS!!! NOOOO!!!!"

'Oh Harry, I'm so sorry.' was Sirius' last thought as he fell into the abyss.

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The first thing that Sirius was aware of was light. A very _bright_ light. It seemed to have no source, it just _was_, and with such brilliance Sirius was surprised he had no need to shield his eyes.

The next thing he noticed was that he wasn't dead. Or if he was dead he sure didn't feel like he was. Maybe this was what life after death was like? But if it really was life after death, then wouldn't that make him alive, thus not dead?

The next thing Sirius realized was that he was really confused.

"Greetings young mortal."

Sirius' head snapped up to look at the, the…_being_ that spoke. Surely there was no one really that perfect. And where was he?

"You are among the Valar in a place where time and space do not exist, between our world and yours."

Sirius could only gape at the being for a while. "Would you mind repeating that, in English preferably?"

"The veil which you just passed through is a portal between two of the infinite realms, though it has remained a portal seldom used. We've had beings from our world enter yours, but never the reverse until now."

"….Hey, that's great and all, but can you tell me how to get back now? It's not that I don't appreciate your hospitality, but you see my godson who I love very much is kinda in mortal peril and if you could give me a hand in getting back to him I'd be eternally grateful."

"You cannot go back. You crossed the portal and now you shall forever remain in Arda."

"…..Excuse me? I think I misheard you, something about not going back……?"

"The portal only works once for each being that passes through; just as those who left Arda never returned, neither will you ever see Earth again."

Sirius just stared at the beings stupefied. _He couldn't go back_. He couldn't wrap his head around it. _He would never see Harry again_. What was he going to do now? Was there any point in going on?

"Be at peace Sirius Black, things are not as hopeless as you make them out to be. You may start anew in Middle Earth and may yet enjoy a long and happy life."

"H-how do you know who I am? And I don't want to _start anew_! I want my godson! I want my friends! I want my home!" Sirius was really starting to panic now. These people just didn't understand; it didn't matter that he was a wanted fugitive wrongfully imprisoned for 12 hellish years, he needed to go home. He needed to save his godson. He needed to be there for Moony. There was so much he needed to do. He had to help stop Voldemort. He had to catch Wormtail. He had to tease Remus about his not so secret crush on Tonks. He didn't even have the chance to have _the talk_ with Harry!

"I am Manwë of the Valar; think of us as angels and I as the head angel. I'm sorry but you cannot go back; it is not in our power to help you. I understand this is upsetting to you, but there is nothing we can do. You will not be alone in Arda; though we no longer enter Middle Earth, our servants the istari have been told of your presence and will help you." the lead being with blue robes and eyes wielding a scepter made of sapphire explained.

Sirius took a deep breath and tried to calm down. This had to be a dream. Any moment now he was going to wake up and find himself at number 12 Grimmaud Place. Once he sufficiently convinced himself of this, he looked up at the bein…the _Valar_ to finish this dream and see where his obviously crazy subconscious took him until he woke up.

"So what are the…istri if you don't mind me asking? And what's middle earth?"

"The _istari_ are type of Maiar, but given the bodies, physical and mental abilities and failings of old men. The Valar and Maiar are both types of Ainur, which can be compared to the angels of your realm except we had a bigger role in creating and guiding Arda, or Middle-Earth as it is more commonly known. The Valar are the most powerful and greatest of the Ainur; the lesser Ainur are the Maiar. Once we were very influential and active in Arda but at the end of the second age Eru Ilúvatar, which is the equivalent of the One God in your world, removed us from power and from Arda itself to Valinar, the equivalent of heaven to you. Though we can no longer interfere with the happenings of Middle Earth, the Maiar can. Therefore at the beginning of the third age we sent them to Arda in the form of old men, to help guide the beings of Middle Earth through persuasion and encouragement, not by force or fear. Besides being old men physically, they also have the feelings and attributes of old men – they feel all the urges, pleasures and fears of the flesh and are as susceptible to joy as fear, affection, greed, pride, lust, patience and every other human emotion as any other human. And though they are immortal by age, physically they can die through violence. They are commonly referred to as wizards by the populace of middle earth as they can perform magic. However the magic in Arda is different than that of your realm. It is yet unknown how your magic and body will react to living in this realm; you may die, lose your magic or become even more powerful. Even we do not yet know the result. Now that you have had a brief introduction to your current situation, you will be able to continue your journey to Arda. I do not know where you will end up, but try to find the Maiars Curunír, better known as Saruman the White, Olórin, better known as Gandalf the Grey or Aiwendil, better known as Radagast the Brown. They shall help you. Good luck."²

And with those parting words the world seemed to fall away under Sirius' feet.

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¹ - Taken from _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_

² - The information found in this paragraph was taken from wikipedia search of wizard (middle earth)


	2. Adapting to Arda

**A/N: In my story, Middle Earth and Earth are two completely different worlds and while I'm playing around in the HP and LotR worlds I'll change whatever I feel like i.e. I probably won't have all the elves sail to the Valinor to make way for the age of man, because I love elves and don't want them to leave. So there. Therefore since Arda is a completely different world from Earth, they have completely different languages, as you will see this chapter. I'm not going to translate what they're saying into the actual Middle Earth languages mainly because I couldn't find a reliable site to do it with (except for maybe English to Sindarin) and I'd rather do all or nothing. **

**Also, I'd be the first to admit that my English is craptacular. So if anyone is willing to beta for me, I would greatly appreciate it.**

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_**Orthanc, Isengard  
June 18, 2559 Third Age**_

Sirius sat up with a groan. He hurt everywhere! Why was he so sore? And just where the bloody hell was he?! And most importantly,_ why was he naked!_

He looked around the smooth and polished dark stone room he found himself in. There was an old man dressed in a white robe holding a large staff who then tried to speak to him.

"**_(In Westron)_** Greetings traveler. I am called Saruman the White. Can you tell me about the world from which you came?"

Sirius looked up clueless at what he figured was a wizard. "Ummm…would you mind repeating that in English? And do you have any clothes I can use?"

The istari seemed as bewildered as Sirius. Then "**_(In Sadarin)_** Can you understand me now?"

"You have got to be kidding me. Okay…..Parlez-vous français?"

"**_(In Quenya)_** Do you understand me at all?"

"**_(In Latin)_** How about Latin?"

"**_(In Khuzdul)_** I don't think you know any of the languages, do you? **_(In Westron)_** If you plan on living in Arda you have to be able to at least speak the common tongue. I shall see if I can find someone to teach you."

Sirius just stared at the mage while he spewed his incomprehensible speech. The Valar sure as hell didn't mention the fact that he wouldn't understand anybody! Or that he would arrive dressed only in his birthday suit!

Sirius' life officially sucked. First he was born into a sadistic family who hated his guts (though the feelings were more than mutual), then he had his best friend and his best friend's wife (whom he thought of as a brother and sister) die at the hand of an evil megalomaniac, then the betrayal by another friend who'd he thought was like a brother, then there was the 12 years spent at hell on earth while the world thought he was a murdering traitor, and when he finally gets free is forced into house arrest and then falls through some portal into a whole other realm where no one so much as speaks English completely naked!

No doubt about it, it was an irreversible fact, his life sucked. In fact he couldn't think of much to make it any crappier than it was right now. What did he ever do to deserve this!

Saruman stared at the man who was ignoring him, apparently lost in his own depressing thoughts if his facial expression was anything to go by. He sighed; he didn't have time to teach some mortal the language and cultures of middle earth; he was the head of the White Council for Eru's sake! But at the same time he was curious of this other world the Valar had begun to describe to him; imagine a world were _mortals_ (and not just any mortals, _men_!) were able to use magic!

Ah yes, Saruman knew what he could do. He would let Gandalf deal with the traveler and teaching about Arda and its populace. Anything Gandalf learns about the other world will be reported back to him, since as head of the order it was imperative he was informed of such things. Excellent.

Now that Saruman had a solid plan of action, he turned back to the human still on the stone floor. Maybe the first thing he ought to do was give the man some clothes.

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**(All future language is spoken in Westron unless specified as otherwise)**

**_Westfold, Rohan   
November 26, 2564 Third Age_**

Sirius rode on his horse onward along the road from Edoras to Isengard in the relatively new country of Rohan. He was going back to Isengard after 5 years of being in Middle-Earth.

The first thing his host did after his impromptu arrival in Arda (besides giving him suitable clothing of course) was begin to teach him the common tongue amongst the inhabitants of middle earth, Westron. Sadly Sirius' Westron still wasn't quite up to par, which was quite pathetic considering the fact that it was all he heard and was forced to speak for the past 5 years.

But Sirius was never good at languages; he _hated_ learning French and Latin when he was young. Or maybe it was just that the lessons with his _darling_ mother forever jaded him to learning other languages. Either way he refused to learn any other middle earth language besides Westron.

"Hurry up young Sirius, I have received the summons to go to Isengard a week ago and you are making me late. If you do not hurry I shall leave you behind, something I believe you will not want."

"I might want to be left behind, I wouldn't really know, especially since you refuse to tell me what this 'summons' is about!"

Gandalf just let out a deep chortle and continued riding.

Sirius has spent these past 5 years traveling with the istari known as Gandalf the Grey. Gandalf was eerily similar to Dumbledore; both were old men with long beards (though Dumbledore's was more of a snow white compared to Gandalf's silver-grey), both spoke in riddles which only they understood, both were impossibly wise (though quite mad), and all and all they were completely impossible. Not to mention their annoying twinkling blue eyes which seemed to hint at the fact that they were in on a joke the rest of the world was oblivious to, which was almost as annoying as the fact that they probably _were_ in on a joke the rest of the world was oblivious to. In fact the similarities were so prominent Sirius half expected Gandalf to offer him a lemon drop each time he opened his mouth.

"You will find out what it is about when we get there!" and with those words Gandalf urged his horse faster, leaving Sirius to try (unsuccessfully) to catch up, muttering about miserable, insufferable old men all the while.

Sirius was actually quite glad to have Gandalf as a guide to middle earth; he was interesting and knew seemingly everything about the land and its occupants. Sirius had learned a lot about middle earth and living within it; even if it was a rather rocky start. Sirius found the istari's way of speaking in riddles and never really explaining things annoying. Gandalf would become frustrated if Sirius was too slow to learn something or acted in a way Gandalf thought was foolish and stupid. But they eventually gained each other's respect and friendship.

While with Gandalf Sirius traveled all over middle earth, though some places he visited more frequently and/or for longer periods of time than others. He visited the dwarfs in the mines of Moria but didn't stay too long since the cold and dark tunnels reminding him too much of Azkaban. He also visited Rivendell (he quite liked the twins Elladan and Elrohir; they were good pranksters and had a wicked sense of humour), Edoras and Minas Tirith. Not to mention the Shire. Sirius didn't understand what Gandalf loved so much or found so fascinating about hobbits. They were rather boring to be perfectly honest. But to each their own.

Sirius also learned more about traveling to different realms and the consequences of such actions. Not that it was really his choice to come here mind you.

The first thing he learned was that nothing else besides living entities could pass through the realms. Therefore his clothes and wand didn't make it to Arda with him, to his dismay (and embarrassment). That was obvious though; the other changes he learned about gradually and with Gandalf's help.

For one thing, Sirius technically wasn't a wizard anymore. His magic didn't work as it used to. He still had magic, he could feel it but it refused to do anything (not like he could have done much wandless anyway). So even though he had magic, he no longer had access to it to perform any spells.

Another consequence of dimension travel they discovered was that when traveling through the realms, to support the change of environment his magic forced his body to change in order to survive. Gandalf even hypothesized that any being traveling to another realm must have some sort of magic to survive the journey; therefore muggles would have died going through the veil while wizards and other magical creatures would be transformed, but unscathed.

It would help explain the changes in his body. He found that he was stronger, his hearing sharper and smelling extraordinary. His voice became a bit gruffer, and he started to growl when angry and makes slight whining noises when scared or worried. And if his laugh didn't sound like a dog barking before, it certainly did now.

It was only after explaining to Gandalf about animagi from his world (and his own form of a big black dog) that they were able to figure out what had happened. Almost all the races of middle earth were magical; even many men had _some_ elven blood (even if it was an extremely small amount). Therefore to help him survive in this world, his magic transformed him into a magical creature.

Obviously his magic wouldn't have changed him too much, and therefore changed him using a form his magic had already used to represent himself; his animagus form. And since he already was a dog animagus, his magic just augmented some of Padfoot's qualities and made them permanent.

Gandalf believes that this would happen to any witch or wizard entering Arda; for as Sirius explained even if someone didn't have the skill or power to become an animagus, everyone had an animagus form since it was simply an animal representation of themselves.

Any other changes, _if_ there were any more, were as of yet unknown. They will probably be revealed with time.

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_**Orthanc, Isengard**_  
**_November 28, 2564 Third Age_**

Sirius looked up at the giant tower where he first made his appearance in Middle Earth. Finally after over a week of riding (and a very sore arse; he still wasn't quite used to it), he could finally find out what Gandalf's 'oh so secret' summons were about.

"Go on young Sirius, find out the reason I insisted you come here with me. I think you might find it a pleasant surprise."

Casting a dubious look back at Gandalf, Sirius strode to the giant doors of Orthanc and knocked.

The person who answered was one of the least Sirius would have suspected.

"**_Remus?!_**"

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It's voting time!! Yay!! 

Who do you want Sirius' romantic interest to be:

1)Haldir  
2) Random female elf  
3) Haldir & random female elf  
4) Erestor & Glorfindel  
5) no one  
6) your own idea

If I don't get enough votes for any specific pairing, I'll just have Sirius with nobody.

Also, as stated above I need a beta! I'm willing to beta in return but I need what I've already posted revised plus future chapters. Preferably someone who I can also toss ideas back and forth with about things I'm not so whether to put in the story or not.


	3. Welcome Remus and Tonks

**A/N: Thanks to all reviewers. This chapter will have spoilers for _War for the World_ (which I have yet to write….) as well as HBP, so just a warning. Oh, and for this chapter all spoken language is in English unless specified as otherwise.**

**Also, as you know from last chapter the animagus transformation is somewhat important to the plotline. So at the end of the chapter I'm going to explain how I think it's done; 'cause there are some fics where you can choose the animal you become, others where you can have multiple forms, etc, etc. So if you want a better understanding of the story I suggest you read the end notes on animagi.**

**P.S. - I'm still looking for a beta.**

**Enjoy**

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_**Orthanc, Isengard  
November 28, 2564 Third Age**_

Sirius stared at Remus in shock. What was he doing here?! His mind couldn't seem to process the fact that this was real. Oh God, Remus was really here.

"Thank Merlin you're alive! When you fell through the veil, we were all sure you were dead! I had to hold Harry back from going in after you! But then we were sentenced to death and Harry had to watch and we just thought it was the end, but we woke up here, wherever here is, and I thought if we weren't dead maybe you weren't either and -"

"Stop! Just hold on a minute Remus!" Sirius interrupted Remus mid-babble. He had to let his mind catch up to the situation. Circe, Remus was really here! Suddenly some of Remus' panicked ramblings penetrated through Sirius' thoughts.

"What do you mean you were sentenced to death?! And what about Harry? And who do you mean, we?"

Remus took a deep breath and visibly calmed himself down. When he next looked up Sirius saw the cool and collected friend he knew 5 years ago.

"Come inside Sirius, we're blocking the door. I think we both have a lot of catching up to do."

Sirius looked back as Remus went inside the tower. He had forgotten Gandalf was there in his shock of seeing Remus again.

**(The following conversation is in Westron)**

"How did you know Remus was here?"

"I told you I received summons to meet here. I just didn't tell you the summons were because two others from your world have entered Arda."

"Wait, but how did you know that the new travelers were my friends?"

"Simple, I didn't."

"Then why did you say that I'd find the reason for the summons a pleasant surprise?"

"Well, I knew that someone from you're world entered ours. And as we've already figured out, it must be someone magical to cross through the portal. Since from what you've told me the magical creatures are quite private and isolated, it means that a witch or wizard made the journey. And since you mentioned that the wizarding society was quite small, I assumed that you might know them. And to whether you liked them or not; lucky guess. It seems I was quite right."

And with that Gandalf strode through the doors ahead of Sirius.

Sometimes Sirius really couldn't stand Gandalf.

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Once inside Gandalf went to talk to Saruman, leaving Sirius to follow Remus to his temporary quarters. Once they arrived Sirius found out the mysterious identity of the second dimension traveler.

"Wotcher Sirius! I hoped you were around here somewhere. It sure is a relief to see you!"

"Tonks!" Sirius wasn't sure whether to be happy or not to see her. Sure he was glad to see her; she was nice, funny and energetic, not to mention family (his second cousin to be precise). Also when he left, Remus had a slight crush on the young auror. A crush that grew into something more judging by the way Remus slung his arm around her when he sat down beside her.

In fact there weren't many people Sirius would rather be here with him than Remus and Tonks, so the fact that the two new travelers happened to be them was quite lucky indeed. But Sirius would be lying if he denied the fact that he was disappointed in seeing Tonks here in Arda instead of Harry.

Trying to cover up his disappointment, and desperate for news from the world he was suddenly ejected from 5 years ago, Sirius started questioning his old friend.

"So what's happening in Earth? Is Harry happy? Did Voldemort kick the bucket yet? Do people believe Harry?"

Sirius was anything but comforted after the dark looks Tonks and Remus exchanged with each other.

"What? What is it? Is it Harry? Is he alright? Fudge believes him now right? There's no way Voldemort was quiet after 5 years! He was in the ministry of magic itself the day I ended up here for Circe's sake!"

"Calm down Sirius. Yes, the world knows about Voldemort. As for Harry….he grew up so much these past 5 years. You would be so proud of him. So would Lily and James. _Sigh_…a lot happened after you died...um, disappeared. Where to begin?

4 years ago Dumbledore died. Killed by Snape no less. Harry begun studying anything and everything he could get his hands on. Ron and Hermione seemed to have taken after Harry's example, and for the most part we were glad that they were taking their school work so seriously. Which is why it was such a shock to learn that he, Hermione and Ron didn't plan on going back to Hogwarts for their 7th year. Instead they received training from Order members and traveled around a lot. They refused to tell us why, just that it was important for some reason. The only thing we knew was that they were intent to go through all the Black family things that you were trying to get rid of. Especially if it had belonged to your brother.

Finally a year later the ministry fell. There was mass panic in the wizarding world, but other nations refused to help us; they saw Voldemort as Britain's problem and the fall of the ministry as a simple government usurping. It didn't help that Voldemort signed treaties with many magical ministries as well. Even 3 years later and he still hasn't attacked anyone outside of England!

It was the year that the Burrow was attacked; thankfully Harry and Hermione where at Hogwarts at the time, going through Albus' private library (with McGonagall's permission of course). Unfortunately Ron, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were home (Ginny was still at Hogwarts, and Fred and George at their shop). All three died. Harry and Hermione were devastated.

It wasn't until Hermione died the next year that Harry relented to the Order's demands to know what he had been up to since his sixth year. It turns out that the reason that Voldemort didn't die when the killing curse rebounded on him was that he had split his soul and tied the bits of his soul to items called horcruxes, so if anyone ever tried to kill him, even if his body was destroyed his soul was tied to the land of the living through the horcruxes. Apparently Voldemort made 6 of these horcruxes and they have to be destroyed before we have any chance at all of killing Voldemort himself.

Harry already destroyed two. One was actually a locket your brother stole from Voldemort after finding out what it was. Which explained why Harry was so interested in Regulus. Another was destroyed by Dumbledore before he died. Before we ended up here Harry, Tonks, Bill Weasley, Minerva McGonagall, Hestia Jones and I were sneaking into the former ministry of magic building on a hunch looking for the fourth horcrux. I'm not sure if there actually was a horcrux or not; we didn't get very far into the building before the place was swarming with death eaters. The rest of us stayed back to hold them off while Harry, Bill and Minerva went ahead to find and destroy the horcrux.

The next thing I knew I was in the death room where you disappeared. I was tied up and held by death eaters by the veil. Tonks and Hestia were in the same position as me, but off to the side of the room. I didn't see McGonagall, but I saw Bill's badly burned body on the ground, dead. And Harry….Harry was fighting and swearing up a storm despite being more tightly tied up and guarded than anyone else. He had a magic-suppressing collar on, attached to a chain that Voldemort himself held…"

_**Flashback**_

"_You fucking psycho! You think that you can rule the world! You're nothing but a bastard half-blood pretending to be something you're not. You're nothing but a fucking pathetic lunatic who needs to kill others to make himself feel better about the fact that his daddy didn't love him!"_

_Remus felt very groggy. What the hell happened? The last thing he remembered was…was a flash of red light. A stunning spell! But why…the horcrux! That's right; he was trying to hold back the death eaters. He became aware of his tied hands and feet. He looked around and noticed Tonks and Hestia in a similar situation by the wall. Why was he in the middle of the room? Then he noticed the familiar veil right behind him. He had a very bad feeling about this._

"_I'll never kneel for you, you delusional maniac! The only thing I'll ever do for you is help you find your way to hell, you bloody wanker!"_

_At the sound of the familiar voice, Remus' head snapped around so quickly his neck cracked. There on a makeshift thrown, sat Voldemort. He was as terrible as Harry had always described him; merciless red eyes surveyed the room and those present without blinking, his skin was scaly and unnaturally pale, bringing to mind the scales of a snake more so than human skin (an image even more prominent after noticing his flat nose), and his lipless mouth was turned up in a cruel smirk._

_But what really caught Remus' attention was about 3 feet away from Voldemort, struggling with all his might. Attached to a chain held in Voldemort's hands was Harry. He was swearing up a storm and struggling to get away despite the magic-suppressing collar, his tied hands and feet, and the two death eaters who each had a hold of one of his arms._

_No! This couldn't be happening! This couldn't be real! Then Remus remembered about the other two members of the team who had come; Bill and Minerva. A further survey of the room found Bill's body, face down and covered with curse and hex marks. Remus was pleased to note that there were at least six death eaters who were also down and obviously dead. However, there was no sign of McGonagall._

"_Ah, the werewolf is awake. We may now proceed."_

_Harry's head spun around with Voldemort's words. The death eaters holding him took advantage of his distraction to gag him and drag him back to Voldemort's feet. Voldemort then motioned for the death eaters close to Remus to usher him toward the veil._

"_No!! Remus! Get away from him you bastards!"_

_It seemed that Harry wasn't the only one fighting his captors. Tonks was fighting tooth and nail to get to her boyfriend of 3 years. Voldemort observed this all with a cruel sneer._

"_Bring the young woman to the werewolf. It was my original intent to only have the werewolf go through the veil; so the two mutts may suffer the same fate. But if the young woman would rather suffer the veil rather than stand trial for her transgressions with the chance of survival, well never let it be said that Lord Voldemort is not magnanimous."_

_With that both Tonks and Remus were pushed to the veil. They only had the chance to have a quick look at Harry's helpless face before they were shoved through._

_**End Flashback**_

"…and then the next thing we knew, we're in some stone room with an old man who doesn't speak a word of English."

Sirius was quiet after Remus' story to process all that he heard. It seemed that the Valar didn't deem it necessary to talk to Remus and Tonks; maybe since someone already has made the journey to Arda and could inform others of what he knew.

But Sirius felt even worse now than he did before Remus and Tonks came; then he had no idea what the situation on Earth was, so he could delude himself into thinking that everything was fine, that Voldemort was gone and Harry was happy. But now, to find out that they were losing the war and Harry was in Voldemort's grasp…Sirius was torn between being happy from seeing Remus again and knowing about home, and crying and yelling at the unfairness of it all.

After a while of contemplative silence between Sirius and Remus (with no sign of stopping), Tonks decided to interrupt.

"I'm sorry Sirius. But don't give up hope, Harry's a tough kid. He's gotten away from Voldemort before, he can do it again."

Tonks unfortunately didn't really believe that, but she had to try. Over the past 5 years Harry had become like a younger brother to her. At first she was just curious about him, he was the Boy-Who-lived after all and she had heard a lot of stories about him (she was only 7 years older than him, so she had heard a lot about his exploits in Hogwarts from friends in younger years). Then the more she got to know him, the more she liked him. They both (and Remus) became closer after Sirius' 'death' since they were the main benefactors from the will and knew Sirius the most. The bond only became stronger in time; she was one of Harry's main instructors while he was training outside of Hogwarts. And it was Harry that got Tonks and Remus to stop dancing around each other and finally start dating. Even if he did tease them about it at every opportunity.

Sirius, Remus and Tonks passed the rest of the night in silence, gaining strength through each other's presences.

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_**Gap of Rohan, Isengard  
February 6, 2568 Third Age**_

Sirius was riding as fast as he could along the River Isen, to get to Orthanc. Over 8 years ago he found himself in this strange land believing he would never see anyone he cared about ever again. Then just over 3 years ago the impossible happened; not only did someone else from his world come but it was two people who were both important to him; his best friend Remus and Remus' girlfriend (and his second cousin) Nymphadora (call-me-Nymphadora-and-you-die) Tonks.

The past 3 years passed much the same as the first 5 years for Sirius; except this time he was the one laughing as someone else acquired a collection of bruises and injuries while learning the basics of horseback riding and sword fighting. Or at least he was laughing when he wasn't getting hurt himself (9 years hardly taught him everything he needs to learn, though he was now at least proficient in both).

To his annoyance, Remus and Tonks didn't have as hard of a time adjusting as he had. Then again when he came to Arda, he was alone and absolutely no one spoke any English; he had to learn _everything_ from scratch. Remus and Tonks got the benefit of having Sirius able to translate and teach them the basics of Westron and help them learn the language faster. And darn it if Remus, who came to Arda 5 years _after_ Sirius, was almost just as good as Sirius was at speaking Westron. Not to mention the few phrases of Sindarin that Gandalf was teaching him. Remus always was good at languages.

Thankfully for Sirius' ego Tonks was learning the language at about the same rate Sirius had, usually leaving the talking to him or Remus. Maybe being bad at languages was in their genes.

Unfortunately for Sirius' ego however, as clumsy as Tonks was on the ground, she was truly magnificent on a horse. Rohan was easily her favorite place in middle earth (though she found hobbits undeniably cute and charming).

This was disappointing to Remus, whose favorite place was Rivendell (they had to drag him away from Erestor's and Elrond's library despite the fact Remus knew next to nothing about the written language). Not only was there no library in Rohan (for it was a new country, therefore not much history and the fact that the country is founded by nomad horse masters), the fact that Remus was absolutely dreadful on a horse didn't endear him much to Rohan either. It was only recently that Remus managed to stay on a horse for long periods of time without getting thrown off; though he still was extremely uncomfortable and awkward while riding.

Sirius looked over at his three companions. Gandalf still looked the same as ever; Sirius doubted he would _ever_ look any different. The other two, like him, seemed healthier and younger since coming to Arda (well, not so much Tonks). It was a given that Sirius would look healthier; he spent 12 years in Azkaban and even when he got out he constantly had to look over his shoulder and was always too concerned about Harry to really worry about his own health and looks. Now that he had the time and means to properly recuperate, it was no wonder he looked younger and healthier than he did when he left earth 8 years ago. As for Remus, he was ostracized from society, forced to live in poverty and recently has been living in a war torn world; it was no wonder he also became healthier after arriving in Arda.

Another change in appearance was due to their transformations into magical creatures when passing from one world to the next.

Tonks' animagus was that of a panther chameleon; which wasn't too big of a surprise considering her metamorphagus abilities, her energetic disposition and her affinity for bright colours. She now had keener eyesight, was a bit stronger and could change her appearance at will. Unfortunately it wasn't to the same degree that she used to be able to change. She can't change her bone structure or size; basically the only thing she can alter is the colour of her eyes, skin and hair. Even then, she can't yet get the same results she used to. Instead of an instantaneous change, it's a slower gradual change which can take up to a week to do. Also, the bright hair colours that had been her trademark in Earth were too hard to get and maintain here. The most she's been able to do was turn her hair a very light pink for half an hour. But she's getting better with time.

As for Remus, his animagus animal is a red wolf. Red wolves are like any other wolves except are generally more shy and wary, have smaller tight-knit packs (without the hierarchy of alpha and beta wolves) and mate for life. All and all a suitable form for the quiet and reserved Remus. As for the physical changes, his light brown (and grey specked) hair gained a reddish hue to it, and besides that the other changes are similar to those that Sirius experienced; a heightened sense of smell and hearing, he became stronger and has more endurance. And most importantly, he longer suffered from the werewolf transformation.

The last change was still up for debate; everyone agreed it was too early to tell if it was in fact a result of crossing realms or not yet. It seemed that not only were the companions healthier since coming to Arda, but they also haven't aged a day. Granted, Sirius, Tonks' and Remus were each only 35, 26 and 39 respectively when they came to this realm which wasn't too old, especially for wizards. However after 8 years (3 for Remus and Tonks) you'd think there would be _some_ sign of aging. Sirius assumes that they look so young since they were allowed to properly regain their health and rest from the war, but Gandalf suspects there's more to it than just that. Gandalf thinks that their magic might have taken it one step further when altering them and has made them ageless. Gandalf believes that they can be injured, can get sick and can die; they just can't age past the time they entered middle earth (therefore past the ages of 35, 26 and 39 respectively). Sirius can't tell whether he wants that to be the case or not. Either way only time will tell.

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_**Orthanc, Isengard  
February 7, 2568 Third Age**_

Finally! Sirius dismounted from his horse. If his arse wasn't so sore from riding over a week straight he'd be jumping around all over the place. He was already running as fast as he could to the door of Orthanc as it was.

While in Rivendell, they received a message that 2 more dimension travelers have found their way to Arda. No one had to say it to know all three of them were thinking it: _'God I hope its Harry.'_

The whole ride here Sirius, Remus and Tonks tried convincing themselves not to get their hopes up. After all there was no way to know who the travelers were. It could be Voldemort himself for all they knew. And as much as they tried telling themselves this, they couldn't help but listen to the constant little voice at the back of their head _'But it could be Harry.'_

Tonks hurried after Sirius after he had run passed her. Even though she got there first (she was the better rider after all), she knew how important this was to Sirius and respected his unspoken wish of being the first to greet their new companions. That, and she didn't think she could handle finding out if it was Harry or not without Remus by her side.

Sirius practically ripped the door of its hinges in his hurry (not an easy feat considering the size and strength of the door). He kept running until he reached the main room, the same one he had appeared in.

Once there, he looked around wildly for any sign of the travelers. They should have seen them coming miles ago from the tower. Then the door opened revealing the identities of Sirius' new companions.

As Sirius saw the identities of the travelers, he felt his knees give out and he sagged to the floor. He felt silent tears running down his cheeks. He knew he shouldn't have expected Harry. He knew that there was only the slimmest chance one of the travelers could be him. But that didn't stop the fact that Sirius felt his heart break when he caught no sight of the familiar jet black messy hair, or emerald green eyes. Instead he found himself looking at the identical freckled faces of Fred and George Weasley.

* * *

Just a note, as to their ages, these are the days I am having them born: 

Sirius was born December 8th, 1959 (2523 T.A.). Therefore he was 35 turning 36 when he came to Arda.  
Remus was born March 10th, 1960 (2524 T.A.). Therefore he was 39 turning 40 when he came to Arda.  
Tonks was born May 24th, 1973 (2537 T.A.). Therefore she was 26 turning 27 when she came to Arda.  
The Twins were born April 1st, 1978 (2542 T.A.). Therefore they are 25 turning 26.

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Last chance to vote for pairings:

Haldir/Sirius (2 votes so far)  
Random female elf/Sirius (1 vote so far)  
Haldir/Random female elf/Sirius  
Erestor/Glorfindel/Sirius (1 vote so far)  
Nobody/Sirius  
Other/Sirius

Again, if I don't get many votes for a specific pairing I'll have Sirius with no one.

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Here's what I think on animagi:

You can't choose your form. You can't have multiple forms. You can have magical or non-magical animals. In simplest terms, the animagus form is the form that the individual most identifies with (on a subconscious level).

Gaining a form:

1) The most influential factor for what form a witch or wizard will have is their personality. The animal would share many (if not all) the same traits as the animal. For example, someone who is very hyper and easily excitable would never get a sloth as an animagus form.

2) The individual's knowledge; since it's a form that represents themselves, an individual would at least have heard of, if not intimately familiar with, the said animal. Therefore there aren't going to be many extremely rare and unheard of animals.

3) On the same vein as #2, how they see the animal is important too. For example, in the western world the rat is a symbol of cowardice and betrayal. However in other areas, the rat is given a more agreeable personality: hardworking, perfectionists with a lot of ambition.

4) The individual's talents also can affect the animagus form. For example, let's say there's someone who is energetic, sociable and has a playful disposition. Whether they are an avid flyer, a strong swimmer, or just prefer having their feet on the ground can make the difference between being a hummingbird, a dolphin or a monkey.

Why so many witches/wizards aren't animagus:

1) They don't have the skill. Face it; you have to be a master at transfiguration to do this. You're not only transforming your body into an animal, your _becoming_ the animal, with the animal's talents and instincts.

2) They don't have enough power. Self explanatory.

3) This is sort of a combination of #1 and 2. Some people have a form that fits them completely, while others can sort of see themselves in different aspects from different animals. Therefore the more suited an individual is to their form, the less skill and power is required to make the transformation work.

That's all I can think of right now. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave a review or send me a message.


	4. The Twins' Tale

**A/N: I didn't think that Fred and George's story would be so long, so I decided to cut this chapter shorter than I originally planed. Therefore this chapter is basically one giant flashback. Because of this, Sirius doesn't meet his love interest (if he has one) yet, so there is still time to vote. Yay!**

**All spoken language is in English unless specified as otherwise.**

**Enjoy.**

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_**Orthanc, Isengard  
**__**February 7, 2568 Third Age**_

Remus and Tonks ran into the main chamber within the tower trying to catch up to Sirius. When they finally caught sight of him, it was only to see him kneeling on the ground with his head in his hands. Above him stood the Weasley twins, clearly wanting to help but unsure what to do.

Remus took a moment to compose himself before the twins noticed his presence. He would brood over the fact Harry clearly wasn't there later.

"Welcome to Middle Earth Mr.'s Weasley. I assume that you for whatever reason ended up going through the veil in the department of mysteries and suddenly found yourselves here?"

"Too right we did – "

"– and when we arrived – "

"– we were **naked**!"

Remus felt the corners of his mouth twitch at their indignant statement. Remus still blushed each time he thought about arriving in the strange new world, naked, beside an equally naked Tonks. It didn't help that it only took Tonks moments before she quelled her embarrassment and began to openly leer and wink at him.

"Don't worry, you're not the only ones." Remus and Tonks then proceeded to tell the twins their (and Sirius') experiences in Arda, including the changes in their magic and bodies. By the time they were done, Sirius was composed and ready enough to join the conversation.

"So, care to tell us why you were sent through the veil? And do you know what happened to Harry?"

The last that Sirius knew, Harry was in Voldemort's grasp. The likelihood of him being dead was disturbingly high.

Fred and George looked at each other and through an unspoken agreement George started talking.

"We were actually in the veil chamber to meet Harry before we ended up here…."

_**Flashback**_

_A lot had changed since Dumbledore died. McGonagall and Moody split the position of leader in Dumbledore's absence, but still didn't make any final decisions without consulting a few others such as Shacklebolt and Lupin first. Hogwarts remained open, but the number of students enrolled had dramatically decreased and McGonagall was now headmistress. People were in a sort of stupor, the unofficial leader of the light was gone._

_That was when it really hit the twins that the war was real. It was the same night that Bill had almost died, that the death eaters infiltrated Hogwarts and that Fred and George decided to become full-time Order members._

_They had known that the war was happening, how could they not. They had spent their holidays at the resistance's headquarters; almost their whole family was involved in the fight against the dark lord. Not to mention that the chosen one was like a little brother. All those attempted murders and conspiracies occurring during their years in Hogwarts also made them no stranger to danger._

_But even then, it still had a surreal quality to it. Like it was just a story and it wouldn't really matter how evil Voldemort was, because the bad guys never win. With Dumbledore's death however, reality came and slapped them in the face. They might lose. Their family might die._

_It was a heart-stopping realization. They felt even worse after learning that it was only with the help of one of their inventions that the death eater's raid on Hogwarts was so successful. From then on they limited what items they sold to the public. They spent their time inventing and making weapons and products that could help the war instead of just prank items (though many weapons were created by modifying prank items they had already made)._

_That's not to say they completely stopped making gags and pulling pranks. _Someone_ had to lighten the atmosphere and remind everyone to live a little. Not to mention that the twins would probably spontaneously combust before they were serious for 5 hours straight._

_Indeed, they were quite noble for taking upon themselves the daunting quest of making the Order members smile (they even got Moody to chuckle after making a realistic Snape target which degraded and insulted you while using it. The beauty of it was if you did hit it, the Target-Snape would wet himself). Those opposed to their self-imposed quest of spreading good humour were forced to back down after learning that the chosen one himself supported it; after all, who could deny their saviour? (Though Mrs. Weasley wasn't easy to convince, but she relented once Harry convinced her of all the good the twins were doing to boost morale.)_

_A year later the ministry of magic fell. Not that it was doing much good anyway. Fred and George were just thankful that Mr. Weasley wasn't at work at the time due to an order mission. Unfortunately, they lost the first Weasley casualty of the war; Percy. It made the loss even worse in that things were still tense between Percy and the rest of the family at the time of his death._

_After that many magical British citizens tried to emigrate out of England, to somewhere the war hopefully wouldn't affect them. Almost the whole Diagon Alley shut down, no one was willing to be out in the open shopping or even man a shop and be like a sitting duck waiting to see if it were costumers or death eaters that entered. Fred and George decided to close _Weasley's Wizards Wheezes_. They still sold products via owl-order however._

_It wasn't much later that they would experience the next tragedy to their family. The Burrow was attacked while Fred and George were still finalizing the move out of their shop. Their mom, dad and little brother all died in one fell swoop. The Weasley's, Harry and Hermione isolated themselves from the Order and the war for a week to help each other through their grief. Even looking back, it was hard to believe that it happened. They didn't want to believe that anyone else they loved would die. And the Burrow, their home since birth, was gone. They knew every knick and cranny and had so many memories of running around and causing mischief there. _

_After that Fred and George started training and working harder than ever. They wanted to make sure that those bastards that killed their family would go down. _

_They were glad when Ginny was finally finished Hogwarts and came to headquarters; the remaining Weasleys (and unofficial Weasleys) could be together. Or at least they could be if Harry and Hermione didn't insist on going globe trotting all the time for who knew what reason. _

_It was not only the Weasleys (official or not) that made up the younger generation in Headquarters. Actually, there was now more than one headquarters. It was one of the first things that Moody decided once Dumbledore died; he didn't want everything and everyone in the same place. It would make a bigger target and if it were infiltrated the whole Order would collapse. Without anyone else knowing, the highest members of the Order started to make several safe houses. They made some for refugees, others as training areas, one as a research center/library, etc. Depending on how high up you were in the Order, the more access you had to more safe houses._

_Another reason for the increase in space was to make way for the increase of new recruits. Before the Order had to limit the number of recruits since they were hiding from both Voldemort and the ministry. Without any ministry to stop them and since Voldemort already knew who and what they were (bloody Snape), they had more leniency to approach those they thought would fight with them._

_It wasn't long afterwards that Hermione died. One day Harry had stumbled into headquarters looking half dead and covered in blood, holding Hermione's mangled body to his chest. A week after her funeral the twins approached Harry. They knew he would take her death hard, especially since Ron was already dead, and they didn't want him to shut everyone out._

_It was after many long talks (and drinks) that Harry opened up enough to confess what he was doing when traveling with Ron and Hermione. Which was just as well since he didn't think he could finish the search for horcruxes alone. Harry, Ron and Hermione were able to find and destroy one of the Horcruxes, and locate some potential hiding places of the others. _

_Another thing the trio was working on in secret was the animagus transformation. Unfortunately only Hermione was completely successful. She had had the form of an Australian Stock Horse, which is known for their intelligence, courage, toughness and good stamina and temperament. When she further researched it and horses in general (as if anyone doubted she would) she found that according to the Chinese horoscope horses are seen as energetic, organized, and fond of travel and are continuously working and moving from one project to another; a definition she thought rather suited her. Add that to the deep love of horses that she's had since she had been a little girl and Hermione was very satisfied with her form._

_Ron's form was an Irish Setter. Irish Setters are known for their playful and happy demeanor. They have good endurance, are friendly and are very sociable. They are also affectionate and enjoy a lot of activity and wide open spaces. Irish Setters also have the unfair reputation of being stupid because they are usually too stubborn and resistant to be properly trained. Though Ron is definitely quicker to anger and more aggressive than his animagus form, it's still a good fit._

_Unfortunately Ron still had problems with the technicalities involved in the transformation and usually got stuck part-way through. He wasn't able to fully transform by the time of his death._

_As for Harry, he had the skill and a suitable form, just not the power. Then again no one has ever had enough power to successfully transform into a magical animagus before. Harry's form was a phoenix. It was no surprise that his form would have wings – he always felt most comfortable in the air. _

_Being a phoenix was something Harry could definitely live with – he had been fascinated with them since he first saw Fawkes in his second year. It would leave an impression on anyone to have a bird spontaneously combust in front of them. Not to mention the fact that Fawkes saved him from certain death by crying on a poisoned wound. _

_A phoenix's elements are fire and air – Harry always liked fire, maybe having something to do with the fact that he grew up in a dark and dank cupboard. Or the fact that his family never bothered to buy him decent clothes in the winter (or ever really) so he was always cold walking to and from school. After finishing his chores in the winter Harry would often sit in front of the fire and let its warmth wash over him and lose himself to the hypnotizing flames (it's not like he was allowed to watch TV). The fact that he enjoyed the fire so much was what spurred Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon to cover the fireplace and have an electric fire instead. As for air - one word. Flying._

_Phoenixes are immortal. Harry was the Boy-Who-Lived and sole survivor of the killing curse. Harry definitely didn't want to be immortal though. Harry figured that neither did Fawkes. He couldn't think of a worse fate than to linger forever, watching as those you love die around you while you can do nothing to stop it (something he already sympathized with since he already had people die for him). You can't even join them since you'd be forever stuck in the land of the living. Harry was extremely glad that a witch's or wizard's animagus form's talents and traits didn't transfer to the witch or wizard themselves when not transformed. He didn't want to live forever._

_Phoenixes were generally wise and serious – but that's only because of their age'__s and the fact that they usually only wander into the wizarding world in times of war to bring hope and guide a witch or wizard it had decided to bind itself to. Young phoenixes – and old ones in times of peace as Dumbledore could've attested to – can be very mischievous and playful. Harry always felt old for his age and never really knew what it was like to be a child. And almost everyone he knew told him he was usually too serious for a boy his age. They also could say that Harry loved a good laugh and has pulled a prank on all of them at least once – being one of the few to successfully prank Sirius, Remus and the twins; all at the same time to boot. The fact that he used them all against each other without any of them finding out about his role in the scheme of things until months later, when he was safely in Hogwarts where they couldn't reach him (it was right after Fred and George left), which left no possibilities of immediate retribution, was an added bonus. Harry credited the success of that prank on Slytherin cunning, Gryffindor bravery, his own stubbornness, trustworthiness (or at least the others _had_ thought that he was trustworthy) and his puppy-dog eyes. He's told that he could make even the most cold-hearted death eater melt with that look. _

_Phoenixes have tears that heal. While trying to cram as much information into their heads as they could during their horcrux hunt, Harry found out that he had a natural gift with healing. He actually enjoyed healing, finding it soothing and uplifting even if it was quite draining. _

_A phoenix is also a symbol of light and hope – well, Harry was the Saviour of the wizarding world, the Chosen One and all that jazz. It was this fact that made Harry think he might not a phoenix animagus after all; he certainly didn't ask or want to be the symbol of light and hope and would have loved to be an ordinary wizard. It was Hermione who convinced him that a phoenix form was still for him:_

"_Well Harry, I don't expect anyone asked any phoenixes if they minded being the symbol of hope and light either. If you think about it they are an awful lot like you – they prefer to stay away from large crowds and fawning humans, only coming to help others in times of need. They only gained their reputation since they help others when they could just as easily ignore the problem and not get involved. Considering your saving people thing, you're all set to have a phoenix as a form." _

_Well Harry could think of many animals that were worse than a phoenix. The only bad thing with a phoenix form is that he'd never be able to transform; the power needed to change into a magical animal – let alone a phoenix – was mind boggling._

_Fred and George listened to Harry's experiences of the past 2 years in silence. They convinced Harry to tell the heads of the Order about the horcruxes._

_That was how it came to be that the most trusted Order members spent the next 2 years searching for horcruxes (and all the information they could find on them) as well as training (and recruiting) new order members and stopping the usual death eater raids._

_Finally they thought they located a horcrux; placed in what was left of the miniter's office in the ministry of magic. Harry, Bill, Lupin, McGonagall, Tonks and Hestia Jones all went to retrieve and destroy it._

_Only McGonagall came back._

_She explained how they were ambushed and captured (except for Bill who died in the skirmish). She was unable to tell of anyone else's fate, since she had to flee with the horcrux or risk being captured as well._

_It wasn't long before Voldemort announced the capture and life-long enslavement of Harry Potter to himself. He also announced what fate was left to those who opposed him; if captured alive a (highly biased and unfair) trial would be given with only two possible outcomes depending on your rank within the Order; becoming a slave to a loyal death eater or public execution._

_They found out that Tonks and Remus were sentenced to death and Hestia was given to Walden McNair as a slave._

_At least they had managed to find and destroy another horcrux so the mission wasn't a total loss._

_The next year was pretty uneventful, which was a good thing since morale was very low after the loss of the chosen one. Even the common death eater raids were fewer in number and did less damage than before. No one was really willing to think on why that was and what the dark lord was spending all his time doing/planning._

_A few months later hope came from an unlikely source; Luna Lovegood. Luna had been captured before the ministry mission that resulted in the capture and death of Harry and Bill respectively. She had also been working in the research and development department within the Order alongside the twins. Her ideas and inventions were often random, ludicrous, unexpected and mad but they almost always worked efficiently and effectively. Suffice to say that the more the twins got to know her, the more they respected and cared for Luna._

_Luna had been captured and assumed dead when she had left headquarters to gather materials for her latest project. It turned out that she had managed to convince her captors that she was no threat, and was only forced to become a servant in the Dark Lord's new fortress where Azkaban used to be. While there she made the best out of a rotten situation; she eavesdropped on all the death eaters she could, she found ways to work around her magic-suppressing collar and managed to send anonymous messages to the Order (the order was relieved to find out that the tips they've been getting where from a reliable source)._

_The most important thing she's been able to do though was come in person a full 2 years after her capture (almost a year and a half after Harry's capture). It took a lot of work to find loopholes in the wards, enchantments and other spells both around Voldemort's fortress and her magic-suppression collar, but she managed it. But even though she was now able to leave, she would have to return within 46 hours of her departure time and then it would take another few months (if not longer) to work through all the magic and wards to enable her to leave again._

_She was able to tell the order that the Dark Lord wasn't quite as independent as everyone thought; there was another dark being, one who didn't seem to be a wizard even though it could perform magic. She hadn't seen or heard of him before except recently she caught a glimpse of it talking to Voldemort with familiarity, as if they knew each other for a long time. This other being was working as a sort of advisor for Voldemort which would explain his uncharacteristic show of restraint and patience since Dumbledore's demise (Voldemort would have already tried taking over the whole of Europe by now, not just being content with magical England)._

_She also told them that Voldemort was doing some sort of experiment on Harry to gain immortality with his 'advisor's' guidance. She wasn't able to see Harry a lot, but through quick messages via other loyal (to them) servants, she found that it has been altering his body and magic._

_After her departure, the order worked harder than ever to find a way to free Harry and the other unfortunate captured allies within the dark lord's fortress._

_It wasn't until over a year later that Luna was able to visit again, bringing more unpleasant news. Voldemort had bound Harry to himself; Harry would only be able to bypass the wards and sneak out of the fortress once every few years, if that due to the amount of magic keeping him captive. Not to mention that Harry would still be forced to return and only be truly free once Voldemort was dead (which could only happen once all the horcruxes were destroyed). But the good news was that Harry was already working his way around the wards and would soon be able to leave the fortress for a brief period._

_Meanwhile the order was stretched to its limit. It seemed that Voldemort finally got tired of waiting and took over the whole of the U.K.; muggle and magical. This caused a mass panic for the world due to the sudden revealing of the magical world. Most likely Voldemort used this time of political unrest to secure positions in other counties' governments and ensure an easier way of conquering them. Not to mention that there were no new leads for the horcrux hunt and no one had any idea who Voldemort's supposed advisor was._

_Hope finally came in a message from Luna; Harry was ready to try his first break out of Voldemort's fortress._

"Wait! So Harry got away? Did you get to see him? Was he alright?"

"They would tell you if you would just sit still for a moment Padfoot! We want to hear this as much as you do! Sorry about that Fred, George, please continue."

"Ahem. So as we were saying – "  
"– through the spy network Luna had in Voldemort's fortress –"  
"– we were able to set up a time and place to meet Harry…"

_**Flashback...again**_

_They decided that the best place to meet was the veil chamber in the former ministry of magic. The dark lord's forces had long ago stripped the ministry bare of anything valuable, and the building was more or less ruins now. Not to mention that due to the bad memories from this very room made the likelihood of Harry Potter coming here willingly unlikely._

_Fred and George insisted to be the ones to come for this mission. The Order agreed that only 1 or 2 people should come to meet Harry; any more was asking to be caught. It was also best if those who went were very familiar with Harry; better to tell whether it really was Harry, or a trap. This also allowed Harry to be more comfortable and be assured that he was speaking to a real Order member (versus a spy), therefore making Harry more likely to divulge important information. Ginny and Neville had both wanted to go, since they had been good friends with Harry and were good fighters (Neville was well on his way to becoming the leader of the order within 10 years if he kept it up)._

_Fred and George were both against it; Charlie had died 2 years ago and Ginny was the last Weasley left besides them. They didn't want her to go, she was their baby sister (even if she was turning 23 soon). Not to mention that Ginny and Neville were engaged to be married and therefore had a lot more to lose than they did. The fact that the twins were undeniably resourceful, had a knack for getting out of trouble and worked well as a team did nothing to hurt their argument either. _

_Neville and Ginny finally relented. So Fred and George soon found themselves making their way through the remains of the ministry building to meet their brother-of-another-mother for the first time in three years._

_When they first saw him they were shocked. Luna had mentioned that Harry's magic and body had been modified, but they didn't expect this._

_Harry was still short and skinny (what do you expect, he grew up malnourished and in a dark cupboard), only reaching to about 5'6. His hair had gown out to just past his shoulders in a messy curly mass of jet black hair with deep red highlights. His eyes were as green as ever, but he no longer wore glasses, making his eyes seem brighter and sharper. Even though this was obviously Harry, and his features haven't really changed all that much, it was still very shocking. He seemed...otherwordly. And awfully pretty, nomething they never remembered thinking in terms of the scrawny boy._

_Honestly speaking, the twins had expected him to be covered in scars, with mutilated-beyond-recognition body parts. Luna should have been more specific when she said that his body had been 'modified'._

"_Don't say it. I know what you're thinking, and don't you dare say it."_

_Even though Harry's voice had gained a musical lilt to it and his appearance had obviously been altered, it was refreshing to see that Harry was still Harry even after 3 years in Voldemort's clutches._

_Fred and George smirked knowingly at each other._

"_But Harry my good man, –"_

"– _how are we to refrain ourselves when –"_

"– _this is the first we've seen from you in 3 years –"_

"– _and here you are, looking absolutely –"_

"– _ravishing –"_

"– _beautiful –"_

"– _gorgeous –"_

"– _pretty –"_

"– _eye-catching –"_

"– _spectacular –" _

"_All right! All right! I get it! That's enough!" Harry interrupted, laughing all the while. "I sure missed you guys." _

_They shared a smile then got down to business._

"_I don't have a lot of time. Do you have a way of contacting the Order?"_

_Fred pulled out his notepad and pen. The notepad was designed after something called 'instant messaging' that a muggle-born order member had told them about. Basically whatever was written on the notebook that Fred had would show up on a notebook in headquarters. This invention made coordinating attacks and delivering information a lot easier for the Order. And as for pens; they are a lot easier to use and transport than quills and ink bottles._

"_Ready when you are."_

"_Good. I assume that Minerva was able to escape with Hufflepuff's Cup? And you guys did destroy it right?" at Fred's nod, Harry continued "Then there are only 2 horcruxes left to go, unless you managed to find another one the in the past 3 years. There's Ravenclaw's Bracelet and Gryffindor's Scabbard.¹ I think that the scabbard is located in Lifford Ireland, but I'm not sure."_

"_Don't worry Harry," George said as Fred continued to jot down the information "we'll have it destroyed in no time. You'll be free soon."_

_Harry just smiled in response and opened his mouth to reply when the spheres in George's pocket which were connected to the perimeter wards Fred and George had put up starting buzzing and flashing a violet colour._

"_Are you done writing brother-mine, it appears we have company."_

"_Yup, all done. You'd think for being a bunch of pureblood pansies they'd have more manners than to interrupt a planned meeting. Shame on them!"_

"_Quick you two! They won't dare risk killing me, only Voldemort gets the privilege and he wants me alive for now. I can try to distract them while you guys get away!"_

"_As much as we'd like to take you up on your offer, for the sphere to turn purple means that there is anywhere between 25 and 50 death eaters surrounding the place. There's no way we are going to be able to sneak around them. The least we can do is give them one hell of a fight before we die."_

_So Fred and George (and Harry when it involved anything non-magical since he still had a magic-suppressing collar on) made as many booby traps as they could to take out the death eaters and block the entry points._

_Soon all you could hear was explosions, the screaming of unlucky death eaters and the crumbling of stone as the roof in many areas collapsed. Fred and George took the time their traps gave them to close off more doorways and make a strong ward._

"_But you're still trapped inside. It will only be a matter of time before they brake through and we're still surrounded. We need to get you out somehow."_

"_I'm sorry to say dear Harrykins that we aren't getting out of this one."_

"_Indeed. But that's not to say that we will let those buggers tell us how to die, we're going to do it our way or no way at all."_

_Harry looked at them not really understanding until Fred tilted his head towards the veil. Harry felt his eyes widen; they were going to kill themselves before the death eaters had a chance to. It suddenly reminded Harry of his fifth year; Fred and George knew that it was only a matter of time before they were expelled, so instead of waiting for the inevitable they caused as much shit as they could and left before anyone could make them leave._

_Harry knew that nothing he said would dissuade them, so he gave them both a brief hug and waited beside the dais on which the veiled arch sat._

"_We'll miss you little bro."_

"_You could come with us. You said yourself that Psycho-mort doesn't want you dead yet. You could stick it to him one last time."_

_Harry gave them a sad smile. "As much as I'd like to go with you, I've got to stick around to make sure Snake Face will be gone for good."_

"_Don't worry, we understand."_

"_Tell Ginny we love her –"_

"– _and if Neville doesn't take care of her properly –"_

"– _we'll torment him from beyond the grave."_

"_Don't worry, I will."_

"_Bye Harry."_

"_See you on the other side."_

_**End Flashback**_

Sirius, Tonks and Remus sat in silence processing all they heard while Fred and George went to get water to sooth their now dry and raspy throats.

There was still hope; Harry was still alive and could still find his way to them.

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I forgot to mention this last chapter, but I got the info of the animals that the characters had as animagus forms from wikipedia. Also from the Chinese horoscope; I don't remember what site I used but just google 'Chinese horoscope' and voilà! There's the site. 

¹ - I'm making up what Ravenclaw's and Gryffindor's items are, because the I don't know what they really are. And in this HP tangent world, living creatures can not be used as a horcrux, so no Nagini. Also as a reminder, Dumbledore destroyed the ring, Harry destroyed the diary and the locket and the Order destroyed the cup, leaving only two horcruxes left.

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Very, very, _very_ last chance to vote for pairings:

1) Haldir/Sirius...(2 votes so far)  
2) Random female elf/Sirius...(2 votes so far)  
3) Haldir/Random female elf/Sirius  
4) Erestor/Glorfindel/Sirius...(1 vote so far)  
5) Nobody/Sirius  
6) Other/Sirius

Again, if I don't get many votes for a specific pairing I'll have Sirius with no one. I mean it!


	5. Time flies

**A/N: I want to thank all those that voted and/or reviewed; you make my day. I also want to thank those that voted; I actually had to go back and change this chapter to add in Sirius' love interest once the tie was broken. Hopefully you approve.**

**All spoken language is in Westron unless specified as otherwise.**

**Enjoy.**

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**_Trollshaws, Eriador  
August 3, 3018 Third Age_**

"Wait up brother-mine! We both have to be in position for this to work."

"Shhhh! I know that mine-brother, but we must hurry and be silent if we are to catch them at all."

If one was to wander into the south-eastern part of the forested area known most commonly as Trollshaws at this time, they would come to see a most peculiar sight. Two, what appeared to be, humans with fiery red hair were scurrying along the undergrowth, moving as quickly and quietly as possible, stopping every now and then behind a tree or bush to listen for any sound.

What some may not know is that the two humans weren't quite human, even if they had decidedly rounded ears. On closer inspection, one would notice their similar – well identical really – features. They had pale skin which was covered in freckles; a rarity in these parts. Not to mention their bright red hair which, even in Rohan where red hair and freckles are more common, no one else had ever seen with quite the same intensity. They weren't overly tall, standing at around 5'8; pretty average in human standards. They were more broad shouldered and stocky than elves, but not enough to be classified as bulky. Their hair was cut very short; a style rarely seen on anyone besides hobbits. But despite their human appearance, they had a presence that – besides emitting a sense of mischief – felt…off. Even though they seemed young in both mind and spirit, there was a certain ageless quality to it that would bring elves to mind. And the way they moved was definitely more swift, graceful and silent than any humans could ever hope to achieve. The problem was that no one really knew what to classify them as; they weren't elves but they were ageless. They weren't quite human but they shared the majority of their attributes and abilities. They weren't hobbits but they shared many customs such as hair length and having a surname. They weren't wizards but they have an understanding of magic and had once been able to manipulate magic as wizards do. Most were satisfied by not classifying them at all and simply calling them by their given names: Fred Weasley and George Weasley.

Fred and George Weasley have been residing in middle earth since they inexplicitly found themselves here 450 years ago. They were lucky that they were not the only ones from their world to come; by the time they came Sirius Black, Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin had already been there for over 3 years (8 years in Sirius' case). Therefore they got the benefit of familiar guides to teach them the language and customs of their new home.

They found learning a new language quite difficult; though they were told that they were better than Sirius and Tonks. Sword fighting wasn't too bad except they lacked the finesse to be a good duelist; they preferred to use brute strength not unlike the techniques they used as beaters during quidditch games. For that reason Remus disliked practicing with them, he enjoyed the technical aspects of sword fighting (even though he was more than strong enough to be able to just use Fred and George's techniques), learning more for sport than need. As for Sirius and Tonks, Sirius was the best sword fighter out of them and Tonks the worst. Sirius mixed the twins' style of pure strength with Remus' preference of proper technique, using one more than the other depending on his opponent. And Tonks…well, Tonks and sharp pointy things don't mix. But she at least knows how to sword fight (she should, after having more than 450 years to learn!) when she isn't too busy almost stabbing herself after tripping over something.

Again the twins were of average talent when it came to horseback riding, only being a bit better than Sirius. But even though they weren't the best riders, they still enjoyed riding a lot. They were however the best in archery. Sort of. Tonks was actually the best, not up to level with the elves, but still able to win tournaments against humans. That is if she wouldn't trip over her feet while shooting, or accidentally let the arrow and/or string slip before she's ready, and any number of things that usually happens when she's aiming. What Tonks has in talent, she lacks in consistency. Remus is about average and Sirius is terrible. He'd be of more use running up and facing his opponents five on one with his sword than sitting back and trying to shoot them down.

Another skill they learned was reading. Reading in the languages of Middle Earth that is. Even though most humans don't know how to read in middle earth and they could get by just fine without ever learning, when you have 400+ years to waste, why not?

Besides learning those skills, the twins and their companions spent their time traveling a lot. They enjoyed all the places they visited for different reasons; Minas Tirith was perhaps their least favorite giving a sense of strictness and nobleness. But it was still undoubtedly a beautiful city and there was something about the size, age and twisted paths of the fortress/city reminded them of Hogwarts, so they still enjoyed it. Rohan reminded them of the field behind the Burrow; a wide expanse to fool around and play in even if they were horseback riding instead of flying. Hobbiton reminded them of the Burrow; something was always happening, everyone was family and you lived a simple but happy life. They almost expected their mom to come out of one of the hobbit-holes and call out that supper was ready. The place they decided to stay at after almost 50 years of traveling however was Rivendell. The reason could be summed into two words: Elladan and Elrohir.

Elladan and Elrohir were Lord Elrond's (the ruler of Rivendell's) sons. His identical twin sons. His identical twin sons who were referred to more commonly as the Lords of Mayhem. If that didn't make the red-haired twins swoon, then their gorgeous elvish features certainly did. And to add to their fairytale ending, their courtship (well, dating courtship I suppose since none of the twins really wanted to get engaged or married) consisted of a prank war. Fred and George still sigh happily whenever they think about it.

Fred and George never thought that they'd find two people who complimented them so well. In their home world they only had casual flings or friends with benefits. It was an interesting experience having a serious relationship (well as serious a relationship could be with them at any rate).

The two sets of twins have been dating for around 400 years now. The only problem that others had with the relationship was that nobody except the twins knew how it worked. Did Fred only date Elladan/Elrohir and George only date the other? Do they switch up the twins within the sets so one night George will date Elrohir and the next go out with Elladan? Or was it a giant foursome with any combination dating at any given time?

Most agreed that it was a mystery that was best left unsolved.

Either way, the strange relationship worked and everybody was happy. Well, maybe not everybody. With two new pranksters extraordinaire and pervayors of mayhem living in Rivendell the number of pranks and the originality and complexity of said pranks went way up. Not to mention that the number of successfully foiled pranks plummeted. Which really sucked for Erestor, Elrond's chief councilor and favorite target of the Peredhil twins. Though it did make Glorfindel, his lover, happy because of all the times he got to cheer poor Erestor up. Not that Glorfindel would ever admit to it. He may be brave (he did slay a balrog after all), but he wasn't stupid.

Fred and George were glad that they had changed physically, or they would never have been able to keep up with the Peredhil twins in prank wars (and their pride would be most displeased if that ever happens). Elves are like super-humans; they are stronger, have better endurance and are better at everything really (ex. Archery, singing, etc.). Thanks to the Weasley twins' human bodies merging with that of their animagus forms, they were both stronger (though not as big of an increase in strength as Remus or Sirius), they have a stronger sense of smell (again not as much as Sirius and Remus), hearing (Sirius and Remus still have more of an improvement to their hearing as well) and sight (though it's Tonks that was improved the most in this area).

Before coming to Middle Earth they already knew their animagi forms and had been given Maurauder-esque names by Harry. Both twins are easy-going, ambitious, mischievous, curious, playful and loyal. But just because they have (very) similar personalities doesn't mean they are the same person or have the same form, much to others' shock. George was given the name Mr. Slink after his animagus form of a ferret. Ferrets are very curious, playful and energetic. They get along with anything and are extremely brave and bold. The only problem with ferrets is that their curiosity and lack of fear usually causes a lot of problems and mayhem, even to the point of self-harm (and they say curiosity killed the cat…they've never seen a ferret). George was happy with his form, though he would have liked it more if it didn't remind him of Malfoy. At least he wasn't an albino ferret.

Fred's animagus form was a fox, dubbed Mr. Sly by Harry. Fred was the (slightly) more cautious one of the twins, who usually had a back up plan, or any plan at all really (compared to George's going with the flow and thinking on his feet). Foxes have all the same traits as ferrets but to a lesser extent since their curiosity and boldness are usually tempered by their cunning and cautiousness to get the same results with less danger and effort.

Besides the physical improvements, the twins also found sneaking around and moving silently a lot easier; skills they put to good use.

Currently the red-haired duo was crouched behind some bushes hoping for their other halv-…. err, their other quart-… they were waiting for the Peredhil twins to show. Though they missed the variety of pranks they used to be able to do with magic, they found a thrill in the challenge of making up new pranks of the same caliber as their old ones without the use of magic.

Today's prank was simple but sweet. During breakfast Fred and George drugged Elrohir's and Elladan's drinks with a sedative. Though it didn't cause them to fall asleep, it did at least dull their senses and reflexes so they're more likely to fall for the next stage. Fred and George goaded them with smaller gags and pranks like 'accidentally' spilling food and drink on them, nudging their feet when they walk so they stumble (A/N: when someone's foot lifts up to take their next step, if you nudge it with a small kick towards their other leg, their foot will usually get caught at the bottom of their calf since they're still moving that foot forward to take a step. This will cause them to effectively kick themselves in the back of the leg and stumble. They usually won't fall making this a safe but highly annoying way to screw around with someone. If you're going to try it, remember timing is everything), and every other little thing they could think of to make the dark haired twins seek vengeance on them. Once that was out of the way, the Weasleys led Elladan and Elrohir on a merry little chase until the drugs kicked in and the Peredhils could no longer keep up. In the time given them Fred and George set up a rope trap (A/N: you know those ones in the cartoons and movies where you step in a circle and all of a sudden you're upside down hanging by your ankle? One of those) and sat back to wait. Hopefully the drug was still potent enough that the dark haired mischief makers wouldn't notice the trap and would be caught in it. Once caught Fred and George would knock them out (carefully so no damage was done) and then get on to the main event. They would strip the two half-elven twins, colour their bodies with dyes they stole from the seamstress' stores (was it mentioned that they stole only the brightest and most lurid colours?) and then steal all their clothes and head back to the camp. Hopefully the dye won't come out for a month, though they are certain that it will last at least a week.

Unfortunately the distant sound of rumbling feet and clanging swords drew their attention away from their mischief. They abandoned their trap and went running, drawing out their swords, towards the sound of battle.

When they arrived at the clearing, they saw Elladan and Elrohir fighting 5 orcs while 7 orc corpses lay on the ground. Fred and George didn't waste time jumping into the fray and helping their companions kill the remaining orcs.

"Well hello again to you too, my dear Sly, glad you could make it." Elladan stated while wiping his brow free from sweat.

"Indeed, it wouldn't be the same without you two. Especially after all that effort of making sure the orcs had a decent chance at slaying us due to the drugged water from this morning…" Elrohir continued with a tone that promised retribution.

Fred and George swallowed nervously.

"Well, we are certainly happy to be of assistance. And it looked like you two were holding out quite well all things considered…"

"Why I bet you didn't even need us here at all. You two are such good warriors, you could have beaten them single handed."

"And blindfolded."

"And standing on one leg."

"And – "

George didn't get to finish what he was saying because Elladan and Elrohir took that opportunity to tackle the red heads.

After a few minutes of wrestling and kissing, all four of the twins lay on the ground trying to catch their breath.

"I suppose we ought to head back to camp and send a message that we came across another group of orcs."

The whole reason that the four of them were out here and not in Rivendell was because of the orcs' unexplainable behaviour as of late. Although orcs are always unpleasant and violent, they usually aren't that hard to deal with since they aren't skilled fighters (relying on sheer strength and brutality).

Over the past year, the orcs have been acting oddly. They rarely travel because of their weakness to sunlight, preferring to stay in dark forests and caves. Recently orcs have been traveling from Fanghorn forest to up north towards Rivendell, and to a lesser extent the Shire and Bree. That so many orcs would travel through that great expanse was mind-boggling. And that they get so close to Rivendell were they were outmatched in both number and skill was nothing short of suicidal; an odd course of action for creatures who seem to care about nothing except themeselves, food and violence.

Many teams were sent out from Rivendell to help rid the area from the infestation and to try and to find the cause of this phenomenon. Elrohir and Elladan insisted on being sent out as well despite Elrond's reluctance to allow his sons to come into harm's way. They were 2888 years old, had plenty of experience doing this sort of thing, not to mention a personal vendetta against orcs.

In 2509 T.A., their mother Celebrían, was traveling from Rivendell to Lórien (the home of her parents, Celeborn and Galadriel). While traveling through the Misty Mountains on the Redhorn pass, she was captured by orcs. They tortured and tormented her until Elladan and Elrohir were able to rescue her. Due to the torment she suffered at the orcs' hands, she could no longer bear living in Middle Earth and sailed to the undying lands of Valinor.

Since then the Peredhil twins have taken much pleasure in eliminating as many orcs as possible.

It was only a few weeks ago that the reason for the surplus in orcs was discovered; they were searching for something. Glorfindel was able to overhear a conversation between two orcs arguing about the best plan of action. Though they did not reveal what and/or who they were searching for, the blond elf was able to find out that Saruman was interested in it for whatever reason. Also that the orcs were converging around Rivendell to ensure that the person with the wanted object (or the wanted person him/herself if there was no object) would not be able to seek aid from the elves.

George sighed as he gathered all his weapons and equipments to head back to camp. Obviously they hadn't eliminated all the orcs in the area like they had previously thought, so there would be no more pranks for a while.

Good thing jokes and gags were still allowed.

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_**Edoras, Rohan  
September 9, 3018**_

Remus sighed as he heard a loud crash from inside the small cottage (which actually wasn't much more than a hut) that was his and his wife Tonks' home.

"Don't worry, I'm alright and nothing broke. But… it is going to take us longer to leave because all your clothes fell out of the bundle."

Remus just shook his head softly and continued to strap on the bag containing the food that would allow them to travel from Edoras to Rivendell without having to hunt too often. Once he was done he headed back into their home to repack his clothes… again. Hopefully he would be able to get Tonks out of the way until it was time to go; as much as he loved her, she always does more harm than good when it comes to packing, cooking, cleaning or just about any household chore.

"Are you sure you don't have anything else to do before we go? Why don't you groom Oro so he's ready for the trip?"

Oro was Tonks' horse, named after her dear friend Orsino Thruston who also happened to be the drummer in her favorite band the Weird Sisters¹.

"I already did that. He's groomed and all set to go. Hey, I know! I can pack the pots and pans. It shouldn't be too hard, right?"

Remus thought frantically for a way to get her to leave until everything was safely packed away.

"Have you said your farewells to Éowyn yet? She'd be heartbroken if you left without saying goodbye."

"Oh no! Sorry Remus, I'll have to help you finish packing when I get back. I want to catch her before her sewing lessons."

Tonks ran out of their house mumbling about pointless lessons that don't really matter all the while.

Even after more than 450 years in Arda, its inhabitants still didn't quite know what to make out of Nymphadora Tonks Lupin. She had the most outgoing and bubbly personality in the world but could also be very outspoken and stubborn. She was a woman but wore her hair shorter than any man (except for Remus, Fred and George). Not to mention the colours her hair usually sports. She was awful at sewing, cooking or any other skill most women have. But she could fight and her horseback riding would put the most boastful to shame. In a world were men were the warriors, workers and leaders and women were usually only house-wives, Tonks just didn't fit.

After all their travels, everyone knew the story of the dimension travelers. But hearing about a world where mortals could perform magic and women fought and died alongside men, and seeing the people of that world were two completely different things.

Most were indecisive towards the situation; they were unused to the idea of a woman having the same duties and responsibilities as a man but accepted that that was how things were in their world, so though uncomfortable didn't really do anything against Tonks. Others saw this as an abomination that went against the natural order of things. They believed that Tonks and her radical ways had no place in Arda. Others saw this as a positive change and encouraged her to continue with her lifestyle and wanted her to help convince other young woman to follow in her footsteps. And of course there were those who were in between one of those three: for example someone who saw women being equal to men as a good thing but didn't want to say anything in fear of being ostracized.

One person who believed that woman should be able to have the same options (like being able to go into battle) as men was the king's niece, Éowyn. She and her older brother Éomer were sent to live with the king when their mother (who was the king's sister) and father where murdered by orcs. The young princess was always free spirited and insisted on being trained in fighting and riding like her brother. When she met Tonks, the two got along famously and Tonks became an older sister, best friend and mentor to the young girl. Whenever both were in Edoras (which was very often) they were rarely seen apart.

Some people uncomfortable with the idea that the princess was so close to Tonks insisted that Éowyn was also given sewing, cooking and other womanly lessons to negate her time spent with Tonks and hopefully steer her towards a more accepted life. Their efforts are so far very much in vain.

Remus hoped that Tonks and Éowyn weren't separated for too long. But it was a likely possibility, especially since Tonks (and Remus himself) wasn't in the king's favor right now and they are being viewed with much suspicion at this point in time.

Perhaps it's better to explain from the beginning. After around 50 years of traveling with Sirius, Fred and George, Remus and Tonks decided to settle down and get married. Remus knew how much Tonks loved Rohan, so he suggested that they make their new home there. Less than a year later they were wed with a home of their own.

But just because they now had a home in Rohan didn't mean they stopped traveling. Remus would frequently go to Minas Tirith to learn how to read and write (the Rohirrim being a nomadic people in origin had little use for reading and writing; they taught history through story-telling). Remus also took every opportunity to peruse the giant and ancient library found there.

Remus often visited Rivendell for the same reasons, except to learn how to read Sindarin instead of Westron and peruse Erestor's and Elrond's library.

They also went to visit the twins and Sirius a lot, or to visit places and/or people they've met during their first 50 odd years in Arda.

Because of Remus' continued journeys from Edoras to Minas Tirith, one day Húrin II, the Steward of Gondor, surprised Remus by asking him to bring a message to Aldor, the king of Rohan, for him since all of Gondor's messengers were busy and he was going back to Edoras anyway. Orcs and Easterlings (men who lived to the south-east of Gondor and Mordor and who served Sauron and Morgoth (Sauron's master)) were attacking the southern Gondorian border and the Steward wanted aid and advice. After he delivered the message Aldor too surprised Remus. He wanted Remus' opinion on the matter since Remus was more knowledgeable of the situation, having just come from Gondor.

Remus advised the king on his opinions and was then sent back to Gondor with the reply and requested aid. Since then, Remus had become both the unofficial liaison between Gondor and Rohan and also an unofficial advisor to the king of Rohan. (The reason that Remus wasn't the official advisor was that he was away a lot and if he was always the advisor for every king (remember Remus is ageless), the ruling family would only see and act upon one person's point of view instead of many individuals' opinions.)

About 7 years ago king Théoden's royal advisor suddenly died in an orc attack while he was out visiting his brother in one of the remote villages in Rohan. Remus was in Gondor at the time and by the time he came back there was a new advisor: Gríma son of Galmod.

At first Gríma was a faithful servant, but over time he changed. First it was small things; Gríma would go off visiting Isengard more frequently for advice, he would listen to others' opinions less and less and would have stricter punishments against those that spoke against him. Gríma affected king Théoden as well; he wouldn't follow Remus' advice as often as he used to, he would try to separate Tonks and Éowyn more and he visited the city and its people less.

A year ago Remus went to visit Sirius while Tonks was going to join Fred and George to a birthday party of some hobbit that they had met over 60 years ago in Rivendell, Bobol or something if Remus recalled properly. (Unlike Sirius and Remus, Fred, George and Tonks frequently visited the Shire and the Hobbits. Like Gandalf, they grew a fondness of hobbits and their simple way of life.) By the time they came back, they could barely recognize their king.

He was weak, far weaker then he ought to have been, even if he was sick. The people were not happy; the king would listen only to Gríma, who was being called Wormtongue behind his back by the Rohirrim. Even without that nickname (which was eerily similar to Wormtail, another reason to distrust him) Remus could see the changes within the country were not for the better. Orcs were attacking the outskirt villages on an almost daily basis without anyone to stop them.

Instead of seeing to the people, Wormtongue would spend his time challenging the loyalty of Remus and Tonks so that the king would stop taking their advice; saying that they were always away and were not born from Rohan and would like nothing more for it to fall. Wormtongue would then continue about how every one was plotting against Théoden except himself and Saruman, to the point where the king began doubting the words of his own family.

Remus and Tonks knew that something wasn't right. They had decided to head over to Rivendell under the guise of another visit to Fred and George, hoping to meet Elrond (and/or Gandalf if he was there) for advice.

Remus could see Tonks and Éowyn exchanging final farewells as he walked the fully packed horses towards them. Éomer, Théodred (the king's son) and Éowyn were the only ones who knew the truth about the reason for their journey. They hope that they could find out what was wrong with their father/uncle. Seeing that everything was ready to go, Tonks gave her young friend a hug, murmuring encouraging words in her ear, and then they both mounted their steeds and were off.

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_**Great East Road, Eriador  
September 21, 3018 Third Age**_

Sirius rode his horse leisurely towards Rivendell. He had plenty of time before Strider got there (especially since Strider only parted with Sirius to escort the hobbits to Rivendell yesterday). It was amazing how Strider, who Sirius watched grow up, now looked as old as Sirius (not to mention his maturity level in comparison to Sirius').

400 years ago when Remus and Tonks decided to settle down in Rohan and Fred and George made Rivendell their permanent home, Sirius was still restless. Over 50 years, and still no one new came to Arda.

Sirius had never given up hope that Harry could still join them; after all wizards live long lives and as Fred and George said, Tommy didn't seem as inclined to kill Harry as to have him as a slave. Even as time passed, Sirius never wanted to find a home without Harry. He had promised Harry a home, and by God he was going to deliver on that promise.

By the time the others had settled, Harry would have been over 70 years old. Still not too late to join them. And as much as the others would like to convince themselves that they didn't put their hopes too high, he could see the unspoken question each time he visited them and their eyes dulling just a bit more when they saw he was unaccompanied.

Looking back, Sirius never realized how easy it was to waste over 100 years. He wandered around a lot (stopping frequently at Orthanc, much to Saruman's annoyance), learned how to hunt and cook in the wild, how to read Westron and (read and write in) Sindarin (he refused to be the only one who couldn't; Fred and George could because they were dating elves and living in an Elvish land, Remus learned because he was Remus and would rather get stabbed with a rusty spoon than pass on knowledge, and Tonks learned because she thought the language was really pretty. That, and she lived with Remus).

By then, Harry would have been approaching 200 years old. Not many wizards live that long anyway, and even though Harry probably would have (he was very powerful), the fact that he was probably still in Voldemort's clutches would've guaranteed that he wouldn't. Even if Voldemort liked the idea of having Harry as a personal slave, what good was a 200 year old servant? Especially since all those who would remember what significance Harry had in the war and what he represented were all probably dead. Personally Sirius was still surprised that old snake face hadn't killed Harry when Remus and Tonks arrived in Arda.

On July 31, 2744 T.A. (what would have been Harry's 200th birthday) Sirius, Remus, Tonks, George and Fred held a memorial service for Harry and officially moved on.

Sirius now found himself lost. All his plans had involved Harry somehow. What was he going to do with his extremely long life?

He decided to become a Ranger of the North.

It was a perfect lifestyle for him; it wasn't restricting at all, he was free to come and go. It allowed him to form a brotherhood with his fellow rangers, something he's been missing since the Marauder days. (Although he still had Remus, they now had separate lives. Not to mention that Remus was now married). He got to fight the bad guys as he pleased and work with his sword often (even if it was against trolls and orcs).

In 2933 T.A., their company was ambushed by orcs. Arathorn II, the Chieftain of the Dúnedain was killed. Luckily Sirius was able to get his wife Gilraen and their 2 year old son, Aragorn, to safety.

Once at Rivendell, Gilraen asked Elrond to raise Aragorn as his own. She feared that the orcs would try to kill him as they did his father and grandfather if his heritage as Isildur's heir became known.

From then on Aragorn was known only as Estel; the elvish word for 'hope'.

Everyone soon grew to love Estel; he was a sweet child but still bold and mischievous. While the twins (both sets) became brothers to Estel (it was debatable if Estel was the younger or older brother) Sirius became a beloved uncle (not quite a father, but not quite a brother).

At first Remus was afraid that Sirius was using Estel to replace the void that Harry left, but it soon became apparent that Sirius saw Harry and Estel as two completely different people, even though he loved them both dearly.

When Estel turned 20 years old, he was told of his true heritage as both Isildur's heir and the rightful king of Gondor. Estel didn't want to become the king; he liked his life as it was.

It was around this time that Aragorn first met and fell in love with Arwen; Lord Elrond's only daughter. She had been in Lothlórien with her grandparents since her mother left to go to the Valinar.

Estel, who wasn't ready to face his destiny, sought to run away. Sirius, knowing how he felt (Sirius did run away, literally, from his birthright as heir to one of the most influential and rich pureblood families) suggested that Aragorn become a ranger with him; a perfect occupation for someone who doesn't want to be tied down, is a bit lost about themselves but still wants to make a difference. Sirius should know, that's why he joined the Dúnedain.

Aragorn did not only become a ranger, but came into his birthright as the Chieftain of the Dúnedain.

When Aragorn was 25, he met Gandalf the Grey who came to visit Sirius. Aragorn and Gandalf became good friends and under his advice Aragorn and his people began to guard the area around the Shire and its inhabitants. It was from those inhabitants that Aragorn gained the nickname Strider.

Aragorn and Sirius then spent the next 23 years in the service of King Thengel of Rohan and Steward Ecthelion II of Gondor under the aliases Thorongîl and Hûgîl² respectively. Though Sirius was only there to watch out for Aragorn and for support if he needed it, Aragorn got invaluable experience leading and attacking with an army against enemy forces. Estel became a source of hope and strength after his many victories (including personally killing the Lord of the rebel province Umbar).

Perhaps it's best to say why their where enemy forces in such large numbers when no one had seen hide nor hair from Sauron since the end of the Second Age. In 2941 T.A., Gandalf had found out that Sauron wasn't completely destroyed as everyone had thought. No one could find a trace of him, but his influence was unmistakable.

The Witchking (the lead Nazgûl) made the fortress of Dol Guldur in the southern area of Mirkwood forest. It was due to the Witchking's manipulations that Arnor (the country of man founded by Elendil, while his sons Anàrion and Isildur founded Gondor. In its prime Arnor encompassed the whole of Eriador) fell, leaving a scattered people which became the Dùnedain, or the Rangers of the North. The Witchking was also responsible for the increasing number of attacks and invasions towards Gondor.

But the Witchking wouldn't have acted without the orders from Sauron himself, which left the question as to the Dark Lord's whereabouts.

Once Gandalf found out that the Witchking of Angmar who was responsible for Arnor's fall was actually the Lord of the Nazgûl, he along with the elves of Mirkwood, whom he told of his findings, drove him out.

The Witchking then began to reconstruct the tower of Barad-Dûr in Mordor and breed a large army, presumably under Sauron's orders.

After his role as Thorongîl, Aragorn and Sirius went to Lórien, where Arwen was once again visiting her grandparents. While there, Aragorn and Arwen swore their eternal love for each other, Arwen going so far as to renounce her elvish heritage and choose a mortal life to be with Aragorn.

Though Elrond was happy that Estel and Arwen found love with each other (why wouldn't he, he had raised Estel since he was 2 years old and already saw him as his son), he forbade them from getting wed until after Aragorn reclaimed the thrown (which would only happen after Sauron was defeated since Aragorn would not allow Arwen to become a target, as she undoubtedly would if she were to be the Queen of Gondor).

Aragorn was not the only one who reunited with his love in Lothlórien. Well, Haldir would disagree, but since when did his opinion matter? That's what Sirius thought too.

Sirius, being the considerate uncle that he was, allowed Aragorn and Arwen to have their lovey-dovey reunion in peace. Not to mention it gave him time to go hunting after a certain blond haired, beautiful (if a little prissy and stuck-up) elf.

You see, several hundred years ago while Sirius, Remus, Tonks, the Weasley twins and Gandalf were still traveling together, one of the places they visited was Lothlórien, home of the Lady of the Golden Woods. While there, Sirius met the 'charming' marchwarden, Haldir, who guarded the northern borders.

Haldir was tall, blond and graceful. He was very uptight and strict. Sirius saw it as his personal duty to get him to loosen up.

Haldir didn't appreciate his efforts.

But everyone else did. What other reason was there for Galadriel (whom Haldir _had_ respected without fault) to assign him as their guide and escort for the duration of their stay? (Never mind that he was one of the few elves that spoke Westron, there was probably another one somewhere nearby. And Gandalf spoke both elvish and common tongue; he could have just translated for everyone.) Why else did Gandalf conveniently forget an item he couldn't leave without, or suddenly remember another topic that he 'needed' to discuss with the Lord and Lady of the Woods each time their group was prepared to leave? Even his brothers, his own flesh and blood, conspired against him; they continuously invited Sirius to their tartan for supper, or to talk, or invited him to their training or to come along with them while on duty patrolling.

It was maddening.

Sirius, however, loved it. He took every opportunity to talk to Haldir; sometimes complimenting him, other times irritating him to no end. He would prank him, try to get Haldir to help him prank others and try every outrageous thing he could think of to get him to smile, or at the very least to break his composure a little.

Remus liked to make fun of Sirius, saying that he was worst than a little boy pulling the hair of the girl he liked to get her attention.

Afterwards, Sirius found out that pulling the hair of the elf you like will get their attention too.

But after knocking the wind out of Sirius with a very hard and strong elbow to the gut and grumbling about the fact that he wasn't allowed to kill or permanently harm 'their guest', Haldir went back to ignoring Sirius to the best of his abilities.

Over the course of the next week Remus began regretting that he laughed so hard after hearing about Sirius' latest vie for attention, since he found himself Sirius' newest prank victim.

Everyday would find Remus with his clothes missing, his hair and/or skin dyed, his hair cut to the most awful and absurd styles, his food being full of various bugs and/or disgusting plants, and his body stuck in various traps in the most uncomfortable positions. All his books were hidden; same for his weapons (Sirius does have a sense of self-preservation after all). Any time he was able to borrow clothes, they were always itchy and full of uncomfortable bristles and thorns. Any borrowed shoes seemed to have extremely slippery bottoms and/or coated with slimy mud. Any bows he borrowed for archery practice, the string would come undone. Needless to say by the end of the week Remus was as desperate for Haldir to give in to Sirius as Sirius himself was, if not more so.

Finally Haldir cracked. One day when Remus was hanging upside down, trying frantically to get himself down, scratch his body after being exposed to a plant that works much the same as poison oak and swear and threaten Sirius all at the same time, the impossible happened. Haldir let a quiet snort escape his mouth.

Everyone froze what they were doing to determine if they had imagined it.

With everyone looking so absurd, being so frozen in tense, especially in Remus' case as he was still hanging upside down, Haldir couldn't help but let another snort, this one slightly louder, escape.

Everyone looked at Haldir in disbelief except for Sirius, who jumped up and did a victory dance, proclaiming his greatness all the while.

Haldir didn't intend to let his moment of weakness change anything, and was as determined to ignore Sirius as ever. Unfortunately, now that Sirius knew that, yes, it was possible to affect Haldir, he doubled his efforts (a feat no one had thought was possible).

In the end Haldir caved. Though he did it with the most reluctant and patronizing manner as possible.

And that was how Sirius' and Haldir's relationship started. It wasn't a serious relationship in the traditional sense; Sirius valued freedom highly, especially after being in Azkaban for 12 years and house arrest for another 2. As for Haldir, he was happy being single before Sirius came and was accustomed to a certain lifestyle.

They didn't see each other too often, only about a month or so per year (but considering they both had all the time in the world, literally, why rush?). When they did see each other, they didn't act much differeht then they did during their first meeting; Haldir would still treat Sirius with light scorn while Sirius would tease and annoy Haldir mercilessly. But even if their actions were much the same from their first meeting, the feelings behind them were much different.

One occasion where they didn't play to their roles was shortly after Harry's memorial service. Sirius felt too sad and lost to play the annoying little boy vying for Haldir's attention. Haldir sensing that, was more compassionate and understanding than Sirius ever thought he could be. They spent the next few months in each others company, talking about Harry and the world Sirius left behind.

It was Haldir who gave Sirius the idea of becoming a ranger after talking about how enjoyable he found his duty as Marchwarden of Lórien.

Sirius decided to join the Rangers of the North at the next opportunity. Even though Galdriel offered him a place in Lórien, Sirius didn't feel as comfortable around elves as he did around humans; even though he had the life expectancy of an elf, he still felt like a man. Also, he wouldn't be able to suffer through being under Haldir's command (just imagine the jokes that would've been made at his expense!).

Another good reason to join the Rangers was that it gave them both space: though Sirius and Haldir cared deeply about each other, they wouldn't be able to stand each other if they saw each other day in and day out. Even Remus and Tonks, who loved each other very much, spent a lot of time apart. Humans weren't meant to live that long, and seeing the same person every day could get tiring. Thankfully no one from England was tired of their boyfriends/husband/wife.

Sirius decided that he should probably visit Haldir sometime soon; he hadn't seen him in a while now. If he was lucky he could get in while Haldir wasn't on duty and rope Orophin and Rúmil (Haldir's brothers) into helping him give Haldir a 'hey look who's here' surprise/prank.

After he met up with Strider to find out why Gandalf was so insistent on having Strider escort those hobbits to Rivendell of course.

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Over 7000 words and 14 pages! Don't expect the other chapters to be this long though.

I couldn't decide whether to have twins' animagus form be a fox, a ferret, a weasel or a pixy. Decisions, decisions! I also did not want them to have the same animagus form; just because they're identical twins doesn't mean they have identical personalities.

¹ I got the name of the Weird Sister drummer from wikipedia. I'm just making up that he (or she, I don't really know) was friends with Tonks

² Thorongîl means Eagle Star and Hûgîl means Dog Star in Sindarin I looked it up at www(dot)jrrvf(dot)com

All my other info (like the dates that Aragorn was told his heritage and stuff) I got from wikipedia.


	6. Reunion part 1

**A/N: Just assume all those little tidbits of information that most people don't know about Middle Earth and Lord of the Rings I got from wikipedia unless I say otherwise; it's a pain re-typing it every chapter.**

**All spoken language is in Westron unless specified as otherwise.**

**Enjoy.**

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**_Rivendell, Eriador  
October 20, 3018 Third Age_**

"Don't worry Padfoot, Aragorn will be fine. He's probably just being extra careful coming back since he has two hobbits with him."

Sirius sighed and turned away from the balcony overlooking the road towards Rivendell.

"It doesn't take a month to get from Bree to Rivendell. Something must have happened. You know the area has been swarming with orcs recently. I should be out there helping the others look for them!"

"Calm down! There's probably nothing to worry about; they are traveling by foot and hobbits do have short stumpy legs. That and they probably stayed off the main road to avoid the 'trouble' you're so insistent is after them, so it's natural that they'd take longer than usual. And if they did run into trouble, you of all people should acknowledge just how proficient Aragorn is in battle. He could more than sufficiently protect himself and the hobbits from orcs. Now come on and stop sulking, you need to get your mind off it. How about we go and raid the kitchens?"

Now in a much better mood, Sirius agreed.

Currently all those that came from Earth were at Rivendell. Fred and George were there because that's where they live, Sirius was going to meet his honorary nephew there and Remus and Tonks wanted advice as to their situation in Rohan.

The weird thing is that they weren't the only ones that suddenly found themselves visiting Rivendell; the elf prince of Mirkwood Legolas, the heir for the Stewardship of Gondor Boromir and the respected Dwarfs Glóin and his son Gimli, all came throughout the past week for various reasons. Elrond had decided that the reasons were interrelated and that a meeting would be held once Aragorn and the two hobbits he was escorting arrived.

Sirius would have liked to know why Strider was escorting a couple of hobbits to Rivendell, and how it was related to Remus', Tonks' and all the other visitors' various problems. Unfortunately Elrond was being very tight-lipped about it until either Aragorn returned or Gandalf came back from wherever he has been for the past few months. He'd worry about that stuff later, after having his fill of some good quality food.

However, Remus' and Sirius' plans for a kitchen raid were soon disrupted after seeing who was coming speeding up the road.

"Isn't that Gandalf? Huh, this really is the place for a party isn't it? I wonder how many other people are coming."

"The number of people doesn't really concern me as much as why they are coming in the first place. Look how fast Gandalf is riding; I doubt even Tonks could match him at that speed. Something big is happening Sirius, and I don't think we'll like whatever it is."

Sirius could only nod his agreement as they headed towards the entrance to meet Gandalf.

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Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Elrond, Erestor and Gandalf were all sitting in Elrond's study to hear about Gandalf's whereabouts for the past few months and why two hobbits were coming to Rivendell (well Elrond and Erestor already knew the latter, but the others wanted to know).

After sitting around in silence for a while, Sirius began to fidget and Tonks cleared her throat, which finally made Gandalf look up from his arduous task of finding the pipe-weed.

"Huh-hum. Sorry about that my dear, I suppose I should get on with the story, hmmm? Tell me, how familiar are you with the history of Middle Earth, and the Dark Lord Sauron in particular?"

It was to no ones surprise that Remus was the one who answered.

"Sauron was a servant of the Morgoth. Morgoth, or Melkor as he was also known, was one of the higher beings of Arda, a Valar. He was the most powerful one of them all.

But unlike the others, he wanted to destroy, not create and sought to control and undo the very essence of Middle Earth. Sauron was his servant. He was a Maia, a lesser Ainur, and was Morgoth's chief lieutenant. After the other Valar defeated Morgoth and locked him into the Void at the end of the First Age, Sauron, unwilling to face judgement, hid in Middle Earth and continued to plague the land.

In the Second Age, –"

"Woah! Hold it!"

As much as Sirius wanted to find out what was going on, this was sounding disturbingly similar to one of Professor Binns History of Magic lectures, and that was not good. The others (besides Gandalf and the elves of course) weren't looking much better. Tonks had a dazed expression on her face and the twins wore the same expression as they had when their mother would berate and lecture them for hours.

"How about you try that again Moony, but the quick version?"

As Remus sighed and collected his thoughts on the best way to deliver Arda's history (muttering about immature people who have the attention span of baby gnats on a sugar high), Tonks, Fred and George pulled themselves together to listen for real this time.

"Okay. The Valar are like Earth's archangels; they oversee everything and made sure that Arda was made how Eru, the One God, wanted it. Morgoth, one of the angels, didn't want to follow Eru's master plan. He was like Satan and brought evil and destruction to the world.

Morgoth got a lot of followers including Sauron, a lesser angel, to fight the other Valar. He lost. Sauron ran. End of First Age.

In the Second Age, Sauron tried once again to gain control of Middle Earth. Sauron made rings and gave them to the rulers of Middle Earth to help them govern their people. What they didn't know was that he made a master ring (aptly named the One Ring) that bends the owners of the other rings to his will. The elves found out and declared war. Men also joined the war. Everyone fights and a lot of people die.

Finally, Isildur, the prince of Gondor, was able to cut the One Ring off Sauron's hand. Sauron was believed to be gone forever. End of Second Age. Happy?"

Before Sirius could respond, Gandalf took control of the conversation.

"Yes, very good Remus. That about sums it up. However, you forgot to mention the fate of the Ring after the end of the Second Age."

"Sorry." Remus turned back to Sirius. "Isildur kept the Ring until he was ambushed and murdered by orcs, when it went missing. No one knows what happened to it."

"So, why are we talking about it then? This happened over 3000 years ago, what does it have to do with Aragorn escorting a couple of hobbits?"

"Everything. Mr.'s Weasley, do you recall when 60 years ago I came through Rivendell with a group of dwarves and a single hobbit?"

"Why of course we do!"

"How can we forget the wonderful time we had while they were here!"

"Though I don't think that they enjoyed it as much as we did – "

" – Indeed dear brother; those dwarves were awfully sensitive about their beards!"

"It wasn't as if they wouldn't grow back!"

"And the honey just needed a thorough washing, the tangles would have come out eventually!"

Gandalf interrupted before they could continue.

"I meant Bilbo! Tell them about Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit, you insufferable fools!"

"Ah yes, Bilbo!"

"Bilbo Baggins!"

"The bravest hobbit of them all!"

When it looked like Gandalf was going to interrupt yet again, the twins decided to answer seriously. Sort of.

"Okay, okay. What can we say about Bilbo? Well you see, dear Bilbo is about yay high – " George said indicating about 3 and a half feet tall. Fred then took over the narration.

" – with a well rounded belly, quite portly one could say, – "

"That's enough! Just sit and cease your incessant nattering! If you weren't going to put any thought to your words you could have saved me the headache and stayed silent!"

After taking a moment to regain his composure, Gandalf continued talking.

"While on the adventure with the dwarves, Bilbo came across a ring that had the power to turn the wearer invisible. He's had that ring for over 60 years.

Last year, if you'll recall, it was Bilbo's 111th birthday – "

"Too right it was – "

" – a smashing party if I say so myself – "

"Yes, yes, we know. The point is that Bilbo hadn't aged a day since he came into possession of that ring. Over 60 years had passed and he hadn't aged a day! He was also very reluctant to part with the ring; even referring it as his 'precious', the same endearment Gollum, the previous owner, referred to it as."

Tonks then interrupted.

"Gandalf, does this have anything to do how old Bilbo looks now? I mean, I was at the party too, and Bilbo was so healthy. And I ran into him just the other day, and I barely recognized him, he looked so old! He aged so much, just in the span of a year!"

"Never mind that – "

" – don't you see that now we know about this magic ring, we finally have the answer to dear Bilbo's disappearing act?"

"Up doing a speech one second and then the next thing you know – "

" – he's gone! The little bugger never even told us how he did it!"

"If I could speak without any further interruptions! Thank you. When Bilbo decided to pull his little disappearing act at the end of his party, he planned to travel and never return to the Shire, leaving everything, including the ring, to his nephew and heir, Frodo. After his great reluctance to part with the ring, and his uncharacteristic behaviour during the parting (going so far as to accuse me of wanting to steal the ring for myself) I knew that all wasn't as it seemed and set out to do some research.

I had never liked Bilbo's ring; it was useful and greatly helpful in sticky situations, true enough, but something about it put me on edge. I never told Saruman about the ring or my feelings about it because although Saruman has a far greater knowledge of the history of the ring, I had begun to be suspicious of his loyalties when he refused to act against the Witchking 80 years ago.¹

I went to the Minas Tirith archives to find any information I could about the one ring and its fate. There I found a way to test whether Bilbo's ring and the one ring were one and the same.

Unfortunately, it was indeed the one ring of Sauron. I knew that it would only be a matter of time before Sauron and those under his command found out and went after the hobbits to retrieve the ring. I told Frodo to prepare for a journey to Rivendell. His gardener and faithful friend, Samwise Gamgee, eavesdropped on our conversation, so as punishment I bade him to accompany Frodo as well.

While Frodo put his affairs in order, I was going to visit Saruman. As the head of the White Council, he deserved to be updated on the situation we found ourselves in. But unable to quell my doubts about the white wizard, I prepared a backup plan. I told Frodo to leave by his next birthday if he didn't hear from me before then. I would meet him at the Inn of the Prancing Pony. As an extra precaution, I asked Strider to meet the hobbits there if I didn't return in time, and left a letter with the barkeep for Frodo so that the hobbits knew they could trust Strider.

When I went to Isengard, not only did Saruman know more than he should have about the ring resurfacing, he knew things that only those in the Dark Lord's service would know. He admitted to being in contact with Sauron via one of the lost elvish seeing stones. He bade me to join him and take the ring for ourselves.

When I refused, he made me a prisoner of Orthanc tower. I was able to escape 2 months later with the help of the eagles. Once I escaped, I went to Rohan to use one of their great steeds to bear me with haste to Rivendell. And here I am."

After a lengthy pause to absorb the information, Lord Elrond decided to draw the meeting to a close.

"The news of Saruman's treachery is most unfortunate. And there is still the matter of the ring to deal with. This shall be all the talk about such matters until the council. Until then, speak not of what you have heard today to any others."

The dimension travelers got up and left the room. They hoped that everything would be cleared up during the council. Until then, they were going to enjoy their time together.

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Later that evening Erestor, Elrond's children and the dimension travelers waited for Elrond and Gandalf to return. They had suddenly left in the middle of the day to go to Rivendell's western border at the River Bruinen. It was now many hours later, and they hoped that nothing bad had happened (though the elves didn't seem to think so considering the comfortable ease they radiated, compared to the dimension travelers' nervous tension).

When Elrond and Gandalf returned, it was with extra company.

Among them was Glorfindel, who had left almost a week ago to find the ranger and hobbits and help them travel to safety. Aragorn was also in attendance, along with four hobbits instead of the expected two. However it was the last member which caused jaws to drop and knees to go weak.

The last figure was short and slender, only reaching to about 5'6. He had ink black hair with deep red highlights that reached to just above his shoulders in waves. His most striking feature however, was his eyes. They were a bright vibrant emerald green, which seemed to pierce through you and bare your very soul. It was impossible to forget those eyes, even after 450 years.

It was Sirius who first found the ability to speak. But he only managed to whisper a soft "Harry" before the black spots that he had been fighting against since first seeing the figure took over, and then he knew no more.

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Yay! Harry's finally here! As if I could have a Harry Potter story without Harry Potter! The scandal!

¹ When the Witchking set up base in the southern part of Mirkwood, Gandalf found out about it and went to report to Saruman. Saruman gave orders that they should just wait and see what he was up to, instead of attacking him. Gandalf reluctantly followed his advice for a while, but then later decided to drive the Witchking out with help from the elves. (In the books it's actually Sauron who's in Mirkwood, but I'm switching it to suit my story)

Does anyone have any ideas what I can call the HP people? I don't want to keep typing their individual names, but I can't call them the wizards (first thing – they aren't wizards anymore; and second thing – there's still Gandalf). I can't call them earthlings, because then it sounds like their aliens, but not the foreign aliens, the slimy green variety. So anyone with ideas let me know.

I don't know when I'll next update this story; I've been neglecting _To Do It Right_, so I _should_ update that one first (but I probably won't because not many people seem interested in it and I'm having fun writing this story).

Just incase I don't update this for a while, here's some spoilers for the next few chapters:

Chapter 7 is going to be Harry's story, how he ended up in Arda (and Voldemort's demise)

Chapter 8 is going to deal with Sauron and what he's been up to in the past 3000 or so years, plus a bit more Middle Earth history.


	7. Memories of an Angel

**A/N: Sorry for the wait! I was more interested in catching up with other story updates than working on my own when I got back from the holidays (grins sheepishly). Hopefully this will be worth the wait. **

**The events portrayed in this chapter happened before the events in chapter 6. Just keep in mind the dates heading each section while reading and you shouldn't have any trouble.**

**All spoken language is in English unless specified as otherwise.**

**Enjoy.**

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_**Voldemort's Fortress, Azkaban  
April 18, 440 A.E.**_

Over 450 years since he's been the Dark Lord's slave. Over 440 years since Voldemort took over the world. Over 400 years since he realized he wouldn't age and die.

His birth name was Harry James Potter, though now he is referred to only as Iri; a name given by those who believed him to be an angel captured by the Dark Lord.

Perhaps it's best to start at the beginning. Once the world was divided into countries; each with their own leaders, languages and cultures. Though the people tried to get along, there were always conflicts between them; whether it was over land, cultures, abilities, beliefs, etc.

The war that resulted in Voldemort's reign began as a war over abilities.

Amongst humans, an ability that can manifest is the ability to wield and manipulate magic. Those with the ability were referred to as witches (if they were female) and wizards (if they were male). Though at first both those with and without this ability were able to live together in peace, soon that was no longer the case.

No one knew who started it; maybe it was the wizards believing that since they had greater powers and abilities, they were superior to their non-magical brethren. Maybe it was the non-magical people (muggles), believing that the gift of magic was unnatural and the work of evil. Either way, a huge rift appeared and even though witches and wizards far surpassed the muggles in terms of abilities, the muggles far surpassed them in terms of population. Therefore for self-preservation, the magical folk hid themselves from the muggles.

As time passed, the rift became larger. The magical people and the muggles each created their own governments, their own currency, their own schools, sports, industries, companies and jobs. They had no need or want to contact the other. They became two separate worlds.

Over time the muggles forgot about magic, mistaking their forefathers' tales of magic as stories and legends, nothing more. They grew to believe that magic wasn't real, and forgot that wizards were real people too.

The wizards seeing no reason to venture out to the muggle world, continued to isolate themselves. They believed that they were better off without muggles and deep down all muggles would take advantage or prosecute those with magical abilities.

As the two worlds became increasingly isolated, they became increasingly ignorant of each other as well. Because of that, more wizards than ever believed that muggles were far inferior to them, having never met any muggles to show them that they could be just as smart, cunning and talented as any wizard. And more muggles saw wizards as either wise old men that could solve any problem (thanks to stories of Merlin) or servants of the devil who wanted to do evil acts, having never met any wizards that could show them that they were just people too, only with an extra ability.

This caused many conflicts in the wizarding world. Since the majority saw muggles as ignorant inferiors (even though it was hardly their fault that they were ignorant of the magical world, or that they were born without the gift of magic), the wizarding world began to put pride in how long magic had run in their families, and how distant they were from muggles.

Those with no muggle heritage became known as purebloods, while those with muggle parents were looked upon with scorn and derision, and dubbed 'mudbloods'.

Beginning in the 1970's – or 42 B.E. – a wizard known as Lord Voldemort started gaining power in the wizarding world and terrorizing the muggle world. He gained many followers in pureblood circles and went about killing those with muggle heritage or sympathies.

10 years later a prophecy was made about a baby boy who would grow up with the power to defeat him. In an effort to avoid his downfall, Voldemort sought to kill the baby while he was still young.

Thus on the night of October 31, 1981 – or October 31, 31 B.E. – Voldemort could be found at Godric's Hollow, trying to eliminate the last of the Potters. But even though he had no problems while disposing the baby's parents, when he tried to kill the boy the curse rebounded upon him, leaving him a mere specter while the baby – Harry – only got a scar.

The reason that Voldemort became a specter instead of dying completely was because of his horcruxes. Even though Voldemort spoke of purifying the world of muggles and muggle-borns, what he was really interested in was power and knowledge. The power and knowledge to avoid death most of all.

He found his solution in horcruxes. They were items in which you stored a part of your soul; that way when you die physically, your essence is stuck in the mortal realm, tied to the horcruxes. That, and the knowledge of a few dark rituals on how to regain a body, and Voldemort was ready to live forever. He even got a test drive to see how well his plan worked the night Harry Potter survived the killing curse.

Once Voldemort was able to fashion a new body for himself 13 years after being rudely evicted from his old one, he continued his quest for world domination. And his quest to kill Harry Potter.

Harry meanwhile began his quest of destroying Voldemort; starting with Voldemort's 6 horcruxes. He was able to destroy 4 with the help of others before he was captured.

That was the turning of the tide.

Before his capture, Voldemort seemed to be satisfied with only gaining control of wizarding Britain. Even 3 years after the fall of the ministry and the rise of his new regime, he had yet to make any moves against muggle Britain, or any other country. It came to a point where the other wizarding ministries relaxed, believing that they were safe. They were wrong.

With Harry Potter – the people's saviour and chosen one – safely out of the way, Voldemort showed the world just how powerful and ambitious he was.

The Dark Lord spent the next 2 years after Harry's capture experimenting with the boy's magic and body, and binding the chosen one to himself. Once he was satisfied with the results, he continued his quest for world domination, starting with muggle England.

Harry however, didn't appreciate being the Dark Lord's slave, or having his magic bound and his body changed. Those experiments hurt! He was glad to find an accomplice in his friend and fellow captive Luna Lovegood, who helped him find ways around all the magic keeping him captive. It wasn't a permanent solution (only Voldemort's death was), but he'd at least be able to leave Voldemort's side once every few years. Impatient to try, Harry was able to leave Voldemort's fortress 3 years after his capture.

Unfortunately his first escape only led to the deaths of two people he considered brothers, and closer supervision by Voldemort.

But Harry didn't give up hope. Even though it would now be harder than ever to make contact with his allies, now that he knew it was possible, he was more determined than ever.

Finally in the year 2011, Voldemort succeeded in conquering the world. Starting the following January, a new age began; the age of enlightenment. Any events before year 0 (2012) were referred to as B.E. (before enlightenment) and any events during Voldemort's reign were referred to as A.E. (after enlightenment).

Personally Harry thought the last thing Snake Face brought to the world was enlightenment; a strict regime, yes. Death, of course. Discrimination, duh. Enlightenment, no.

But even though Voldemort ruled supreme, there were still those who rebelled. In the year 30 A.E., Neville Longbottom, leader of the resistance, destroyed the fifth horcrux, Godric Gryffindor's Scabbard. And four hundred and ten years later, his descendant Liam Longbottom, destroyed the last one; Rowena Ravenclaw's Bracelet.

Harry had been waiting for this moment for centuries. Over the years he's been able to make more and more progress in breaking the collar that held his magic captive (all without Voldemort noticing of course). Now that all the horcruxes were gone, Harry could finally fulfill the prophecy.

It was time for Voldemort to die.

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_**Flashbacks **_

(A/N: this whole section deals with flashbacks of Harry's time in the HP universe. I don't want to put the whole section in italics, because they're harder to read, so just pay attention to the dates and you'll be fine. Also remember that 2012 B.C. is equal to 0 A.E.)

_**November 23, 12 B.E. **_

Harry continued kicking and screaming as he was dragged along behind the dark lord. He had to keep fighting, if for no other reason than to avoid thinking of what just happened. He didn't want to think of Bill's death and how his now widowed wife would have to raise little Emily on her own. Or how Hestia Jones was going to be some death eaters slave. Or how Remus and Tonks were now beyond his reach, suffering the same fate as Sirius.

He would think about that later, when he was alone and able to mourn in peace. But right now he refused to show Old Tommy any weakness.

It didn't help that he was already feeling off balance because 1) he didn't know if Minerva made it to safety with the horcrux 2) he had just been captured by his mortal enemy and 3) his magic has been bound thanks to the magic-suppressing collar.

Thankfully he was soon distracted by his depressing thoughts.

"Potter, seeing how you're going to be my guest for the foreseeable future, there is someone I'd like you to meet. Do not fret; I think you and he will get along just fine. We will be spending quite a lot of time with him, until I can be sure that you will no longer be a threat to me."

Harry didn't know what he was expecting, but whatever it was, it wasn't what he was faced with. The man in front of him was big – there was really no other way to describe him. He stood at a good 6'6 (if not taller) and had a large broad frame, but not enough to make him bulky. His presence seemed to fill the room, even overshadowing Voldemort's. Harry got the feeling that this being wasn't quite human.

He didn't get much time to contemplate this new figure, since he was then shackled to a table lying on his back. Almost immediately the pain started – feeling as though his magic was being twisted, compressed and stretched abnormally, all at the same time. Harry couldn't help opening his mouth and letting out a loud scream.

_**February 2, 8 B.E. **_

Over 3 years passed since his capture, and a lot changed. Including him. Voldemort, wanting to steal Harry's power, or at the very least suppress it, allowed his 'associate' to perform some sort of rituals and experiments. Harry was still getting used to the results, even if they occurred gradually over the past 3 years.

His magic wasn't so much a tool to him, as it was a part of him. He could feel it flowing through him, though what it meant or whether it was a good or a bad thing – Harry had no idea. His hair gained deep red highlights. Harry liked to think of it as a bit of his mother coming out, but he knew that the real reason was because of his merging with his animagus form. His phoenix instincts seemed to have a very large presence in his mind. He didn't even know that that was possible, but then again he didn't recognize any of the rituals or spells that Snake Face's associate used on him.

Another bad side affect was his appearance. He didn't like how…pretty he looked. He always hated being shorter and smaller than even those years younger than him, but he just lived with it as being another scar to bear, a proof of his survival at the Dursleys. Not as awe-inspiring as a battle scar perhaps, but to Harry it still meant that he was a survivor. Now his small frame seemed to attract attention that Harry was most definitely not interested in.

There were upsides to the experiments though; for one Harry's eyesight was perfect. He was glad to finally be rid of his glasses (which were quite a liability in battle), not that he would ever actually thank Tommy or anything. He became able to sense and 'feel' magic (such as enchantments and how they worked) allowing him to have a much easier time than he would have getting around the various wards and enchantment keeping him prisoner. He was finally ready to leave Azkaban for the first time in over 3 years.

He still wasn't able to leave permanently, but leaving for a day was better than nothing. Not to mention he'd hopefully see a familiar face and deliver information about Voldemort so Harry wouldn't feel so useless and trapped. Harry was just glad that Tom's attention strayed from him once the dark lord was satisfied that Harry was suitably imprisoned.

Hopefully Voldemort would trust enough in his imprisonment not to go check up on him for the next 24 hours.

_**May 13, 30 A.E. **_

Harry felt tears of frustration run down his cheeks as he worked harder to try and levitate a small rock. Last month through various spies/prisoners, Harry and Luna (well mostly Luna since Harry was supervised around the clock after his brief escape 38 years ago) were able to find and send information on the location of a top secret death eater base. The following raid led by Neville Longbottom not only resulted in the deaths of inner circle death eaters and priceless artifacts and information that formerly belonged to the dark lord, but also the whereabouts of the second last horcrux. Neville obviously destroyed it.

But although that was very good news, as retribution Voldemort killed Luna, Harry's only companion that he trusted implicitly; his friend of 47 years and fellow prisoner and conspirator of 42 years. Even though Harry has suffered much loss in his life and was no stranger to sudden violent deaths of loved ones, this one hit him harder than the others.

For one, he had known Luna for a much longer time and has been through so much with her. Despite being the personal slave of the most feared dark lord in history, her quirky personality and unflappable demeanor was a steady rock and support for him which never failed to lift his spirits. Even if he always knew that she would leave him eventually, he still wasn't prepared for her death.

His only respite now was his magic and his vow of one day seeing Voldemort go down by his hand. Hence his desperation of making his magic respond to him.

After the alterations due to the rituals and experiments performed on him 42 years ago, Harry was constantly finding new ramifications.

At first he just noticed the difference in his looks; his hair gained dark auburn streaks, his scars and blemishes (except the one on his forehead) began fading, his eyes and skin seemed to glow with an inner fire.

Then the way his body and magic felt and moved; his physical strength increased dramatically, he had no more need for his glasses, he could sense and manipulate (to a small degree) the magic around him, his reflexes became faster and his movements more fluid.

Then in his instincts and abilities; his singing got a _lot_ better, his magic responded to him more easily (Harry suspected that without the magic-suppressing collar he would be able to do wandless magic), he was able to sense peoples general auras and could heal himself easily after sessions in the dark lords torture chamber. He was also immune to burns from fire.

One result he desperately didn't want was his apparent immortality; by all appearances Harry had not aged a day since becoming the dark lord's prisoner. He still looked no older than 20 when in reality he was turning 62 in a matter of months.

Hoping to understand what happened to him, why it was done to him, and how to reverse what was done to him, Harry went investigating. After years of feeling the results first hand and snooping around for any indication as to what spells and/or rituals was used, Harry discovered that the dark lord had been trying to first bring forth his animagus form and then try and steal his power.

Voldemort had deduced that Harry's animagus form was that of a phoenix given his personality. Once Harry was captured, the power of a phoenix at his fingertips was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Knowing that Harry would never have enough power to do a complete animagus transformation on his own, Voldemort's mysterious advisor suggested trying to merge his human form with his animagus form. Considering at best Voldemort would have the magical strength of a phoenix at his disposal in the form of a personal slave and at worst have his most hated enemy die, Tom was only too happy to agree to try the rituals and spells to merge Harry with his phoenix form.

Unfortunately for Voldemort, Harry's magic and abilities (both from his human form and his phoenix form) were inaccessible to him unless coming willingly through Harry himself. Any magic that Tom was able to leech off Harry was too wild and unfocused to be manipulated and/or used in Voldemort's favor.

Not that Voldemort didn't try other means of securing Harry's powers to aid himself. After seeing that Harry was able to heal himself, Voldemort was curious to see how far his healing abilities extended; after all, phoenixes were renowned for their tears which could heal anything. Harry however was less than enthused about helping death eaters. Finally a deal was made; Harry was allowed to heal whoever he wanted as long as death eaters were his main priority. Harry knew that the majority of prisoners that he healed ended up injured and/or ill again in no time, but hopefully their short break from pain and/or the extension of their life would be worth it.

Fortunately, for Harry to heal the death eaters the magic-suppressing collar around Harry's neck was altered. Though it still bound most of Harry's magic, a small part was now accessible to him. It doesn't take a genius to realize that Harry has been using that magic not only to heal but work on wandless magic so one day he can get the collar removed and kick Snake Face's ass.

He usually got better results than he was currently getting with the rock, but after the emotional upheaval due to Luna's death and the fact that he was very low on magic after healing himself (Tom wasn't happy about the Order's success and decided to relieve stress the good old fashioned way of toturing your enemy until they were unrecognizable) and because he was forced to heal the surviving death eaters from Neville's raid.

Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, Harry continued trying to levitate the rock with little success.

_**December 11, 127 A.E. **_

'_It's amazing how much can change in a little more than a hundred years_.' Harry thought with a wistful sigh.

The 20-year-old-looking 159 year old was currently talking to Rebecca Longbottom, Neville's 54 year old great granddaughter. Even though the Longbottom name should have been lost after Neville and Ginny's granddaughter Olivia got married, she along with her daughter (and their respective husbands) decided to keep their maiden name. Since Neville is the most recognized opponent of the dark lord of the past century, the name Longbottom is now highly revered by those opposed to the dark lord and his rule.

As for Harry; most forgot his story. Even when Voldemort first took over, only the wizards knew of his importance and history with the dark lord. And since Harry was captured when he was only 20, there was not a lot of time to cause a lot of trouble for Tom or have stories of his exploits spread around much. Therefore most didn't know who he was or why he was a prisoner of the dark lord. All anyone really knows is that the dark lord rarely lets him out of his sight, he has never aged in anyone's memory, he heals those he is able to and helps the resistance.

Harry was surprised at the wide variety and sheer outrageousness of the stories that people believed when reasoning who he was.

Even Rebecca who had heard stories of Harry her whole life (after all Neville was one of the few that not only knew the truth but would make sure future generations knew it too) was doubtful of those tales and tended to believe that Harry was a fae (or at least part fae) whom the dark lord imprisoned until Harry teaches him secret fae magic.

In the end Harry supposed it really didn't matter what anyone thought the truth was, he would continue to help the resistance anyway.

Unfortunately Harry wasn't always able to escape his prison to come out and relay information to the Order; Voldemort always kept a close eye on Harry, especially after his first successful escape when the twins went through the veil. After that incident, it took Harry another 67 before he was able to leave Tom's fortress and meet resistance members in person instead of relying on messengers to send information.

Lately it has become easier and easier to leave the fortress and help others (at least in comparison to how it used to be). And sadly Harry knew the reason had nothing to do with his sneaking skills or his magical prowess. The real reason that the resistance was finding their second wind years after the death of Neville was simply because Voldemort was bored.

Harry didn't know whether to laugh or cry about it.

You see, Voldemort always dreamed of doing the impossible; gaining immortality and ruling the world. He let no one get in his way and stuck true to his ambitions, even if he had to endure 13 years as a bodiless entity to do it.

Unfortunately, even if Snake Face did countless rituals so he was basically more snake than human, he was still born human and therefore still had the mind and impulses of a human. And humans weren't meant to be immortal.

At the beginning of Voldemort's rule, the dark lord was as happy as he could be. He was immortal, Dumbledore was dead and Harry Potter was forever tied to him until (either his or the boy's) death. Not to mention that he owned the entire world.

But as the years passed the novelty of being the immortal ruler of the world lost its shine. You'd get tired if the only conversations you had consisted of "yes master" and pathetic whimpering. Even the admiration (however reluctantly given) was less since those born under the dark lord's rule just accepted his reign as how life was; never pausing to think of the power and effort it took to conquer the world. And Harry, who was supposed to be a symbol of lost dreams and shattered hope to the Order lost his significance to the people who couldn't even agree what he was, let alone who he supposed to be. Harry's significance to Voldemort was now nothing more than a personal trophy.

It was almost funny when the dark lord realized his predicament: Voldemort was holding court over a member of the resistance about 15 years ago. When Voldemort showed his people just how gracious he was by letting the poor man speak in his defense, the man started sobbing for forgiveness.

Usually Snake Face derived much pleasure from seeing former enemies blubber and beg, but during this episode Harry could see just how bored the dark lord was from his forced position at Voldemort's feet. Harry, having long ago lost any fear he may have of the dark lord, continued to read his face as the dark lord realized that the thrill of having the enemy beg was not so potent, that ruling the earth was not so grand as imagined, that having no one challenge him was becoming a bore.

Harry could practically hear Voldemort's thoughts as he came to those realizations and was left with a sound '_Now what?_'.

Subconsciously Harry thought Voldemort had known long before that he didn't know what else to do now that his ambitions were achieved. What other reason would he keep Harry, the only person who has never let Tom affect his thoughts and actions, as his slave when he could have insured his victory with Harry's death? Why else would he begin to give out lighter punishments to those caught opposing him, allowing the resistance to once again gain a sliver of hope to overthrowing him? Why else would he allow Harry more access to his magic (under the guise of healing death eaters) when he could just get other healers to do the work instead?

But even though Voldemort was bored having no opposition didn't mean that Snake Face was going to allow the resistance to become a strong opposition. He was only allowing them to be strong enough to actually fight, then crush them until only a fraction of them were left until he got bored again and the cycle would continue.

Even though Harry knew that Voldemort wouldn't be destroyed any time soon, he would continue to help as much as possible and thus pushed his other thoughts out of mind and told Rebecca the latest plans in death eater attacks.

_**June 29, 300 A.E.**_

Harry, or Iri as he is more commonly known now, wandered the halls of Voldemort's new fortress. For whatever reason – though Harry suspected that boredom was the main factor – the dark lord decided to switch venues of the location of his fortress after more than 300 years at having it on Azkaban Island. Now Voldemort makes his headquarters (and Harry's prison) where the old ministry of magic was located.

As for Harry's new name – well it's a long story. Even when many of Harry's classmates were still alive people were making stories about Harry claiming that he wasn't human because of his lack of aging throughout the years. As decades went by, less and less people knew the truth about Harry and the speculations became more believable to everyone.

In the end the general consensus was that Harry was an angel. The story goes something like this: In his quest for power, Voldemort summoned a demon (Voldemort's advisor, who also has yet to age) to help him take over the world and become immortal. However the demons powers were not enough, they needed more power to achieve their goals and they needed light magic to balance out all the dark magic lest the world become completely destroyed. Therefore the dark lord and the demon captured an angel (Harry, or Iri) so they could finalize their plans for world domination. According to the story, once the angel was free, the magic ensuring Voldemort's reign would become unbalanced and collapse on itself, thus liberating everyone.

No one would listen to Harry's account on what the truth really was whenever Harry was able to escape Voldemort's presence for a while. Even when he insisted that his name was Harry, the others assumed they misheard (after all how can an angel have such a common name?) and presumed that what Harry really said was that his name was Iri – a biblical name meaning fire and light, quite appropriate for an angel immune to fire.¹

Since people became more and more convinced that this was the truth, Harry stopped trying to convince them otherwise and just responded to Iri – which was close enough to Harry that it wasn't all that hard to do. As of now, Harry has spent almost half his life being called Iri as opposed to Harry.

One good thing about being known as an angel was that the resistance was prone to listen to him more. Therefore, instead of wasting their time trying to take off Iri's collar, they went searching for the final horcrux which Harry convinced them was an object tying his powers to the dark lord.

Iri – or Harry – felt his mood lighten. With the hunt for the final horcrux continued, soon he will be able to defeat Snake Face once and for all and join his loved ones. Hopefully.

**_April 18, 440 A.E._**

This was it. More than 457 years after his rebirth, Voldemort was finally going to die. Iri got the message from the resistance today: Liam Longbottom destroyed the last horcrux.

Knowing that now was the time for the final battle, Iri pushed as hard as he could against the enchantments keeping his magic prisoner. Ever since he was able to access part of his magic (as small as that part was) when Voldemort granted him permission to use his healing powers over 400 years ago, Harry had been slowly but surely wearing down the magical suppression collar around his neck. He never undid enough to be noticeable, therefore the collar always stayed on and the large majority of his magic was inaccessible to him for hundreds of years. But he was able to make a weak link if you will in the collar, so when the need arose (as it does now) he would be able to be completely free of the collar in a matter of moments.

When the collar fell to the floor, Iri followed it. He was completely overwhelmed by his magic flowing through him. It was like someone who is parched in the desert, desperate for a sip of water suddenly finding himself in the middle of a giant lake. Iri couldn't remember the last time he felt this happy and complete. He felt invincible.

With his magic back and the last horcrux gone, Iri now focused on finding Voldemort and fulfilling his destiny once and for all.

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"TOM!!"

Iri called out to his jailer of 450 years. He was going to finish this, the sooner the better.

"Come out and fight you coward! Has the years made you weak and lazy Tom? Are you afraid of me?"

Voldemort's high pitched laugh which never failed to make people's hair stand on end was his answer.

"Foolish boy! After so many years of obediance I was beginning to think that I had crushed your spirit. So you want to oppose me then? Why fight now, when all you knew and loved is long lost? Why fight when you can't hope to win? Are you that tired of being my slave that you would choose death?"

"I won't be the one who is dead by the end of the day Riddle."

And with that the two enemies started the duel which would finish a 500 year old war.

Anyone watching would be in awe of the power demonstrated; both had no need for wands or oral incantations. As they thought it, the spell, hex, or curse would be soaring towards their opponent. The throne room became a light show full of explosions, crumbling walls and fire. Both combatants continued their fighting without pause despite any injuries they had sustained.

Fortunately for Iri, he was able to heal his injuries as he fought. He only healed the ones that would be detrimental to his dueling by either hampering his movements or becoming distracting due to the pain. Minor injuries he just ignored.

Voldemort wasn't so lucky, and couldn't fix his broken left arm. However even though he was in worst shape due to his lack of healing powers, he was still able to injure Iri more often and with more damage, keeping the combatants relatively equal.

After hours of dueling, the two opponents were starting to tire. Iri, who hadn't had full access to his magic in 450 years, was not able to focus and refine his magic, using more power and less focus than he would like. And Voldemort, who hadn't had an opponent even close to his power level in just as long was unused to the long fight and continuous use of his magic.

Finally Iri saw his opening. Voldemort's broken arm snagged on a chunk of wall Tom was trying to use as cover, which had come off earlier in the duel. This caused Snake Face's chest to become an open target for a critical moment. A moment that Iri didn't waste.

He didn't even use a real spell; Iri just sent as much pure power as he could careening towards the dark lord, not wasting time in thinking a spell, just trying to defeat him once and for all. And it worked. Iri's non-spell didn't really kill Voldemort – it obliterated the dark lord.

Once the light died down and there was nothing left by silence, Iri felt a tired smile spread across his face. Voldemort was finally destroyed. He felt himself sinking to the ground, not having enough energy to get up and celebrate. Then he knew no more.

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First of all…wow. Just wow. When I was thinking of a name for the HP people, I was thinking simple and easy (not to mention stupid and corny), like 'the gang'. And boy am I glad I asked you guys for help before putting that! You're suggestions were so good, it made me bow my head in shame. Seriously.

Sorry again about the long wait, but as a bonus the next chapter will probably be pretty long. I do have to cover 3000 years with Sauron after all.

I didn't like the fight scene between Harry and Voldemort, but I couldn't think of a way to make it better. I might go back and make it more exciting and dramatic later.

¹ I found the name Iri and it's meaning at www(dot)parenthood(dot)com


	8. Diary of a Demon

**A/N: I know that my dates are a little hard to follow since there are three separate ways of counting the years: the usual way used in the hp universe (B.C., A.D.), the years after Voldemort took over (B.E., A.E.), and the way used in the lotr universe (F.A., S.A., T.A.). So here is a little time line:**

**July 31, 1980 (HP) equals July, 31 32 B.E. (Tom) equals July 31, 2544 T.A. (LOTR) equals Harry's birthday.  
Sirius ends up in Middle Earth in the year 1995 / 17 B.E. / 2559 T.A.  
Remus and Tonks end up in Middle Earth in the year 2000 / 12 B.E. / 2564 T.A.  
Fred and George end up in M.E. in the year 2004 / 8 B.E. / 2568 T.A.  
Voldemort enforces his own calendar 2012 / 0 / 2576 T.A.  
Harry turns 200 in the year 2180 / 168 A.E. / 2744 T.A.  
Voldemort is defeated in the year 2452 / 440 A.E. / 3016 T.A.**

**And so on and so forth. Hopefully that will help you out.**

**Unfortunately this chapter has _major_ LotR history, so hopefully it won't be too boring. I'm trying not to repeat what I've already gone over in other chapters, but it's unavoidable.**

**All spoken language is in English unless specified as otherwise.**

**Enjoy.**

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_**Earth  
564 B.C.**_

Sauron was not happy about his current situation. All he wanted was world domination, and somehow he finds himself bodiless in an alternate reality.

The over 9000 year old dark lord wasn't worried though. He would one day find his way back to Arda, and when he does, all will bow down and tremble before him. It was only a matter of time.

The first thing he was going to do is rest and build up his strength. Then he will study the world he has found himself in more detail, and find his way back.

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The reason Sauron found himself in another realm as a bodiless entity was because of his latest failed attempt at conquering his home world.

Let's start at the beginning shall we? Sauron started his career in evil deeds in the First Age, as the second in command of Melkor, a Valar who only sought destruction and chaos.

When Melkor was trapped in the Void by the other Valar at the end of the First Age, Sauron hid in Middle Earth to escape punishment.

If one was to ask, they'd find out that although Sauron lost that first war under Melkor's command, he preferred it that way. Melkor wanted to destroy Arda – Sauron wants to rule it. Why destroy everyone when you can have them bent to your will instead?

Therefore in the Second Age, Sauron tried to conquer the world. But this time, instead of trying to conquer the world through strength and brute force, Sauron tried a more underhanded approach.

When Sauron re-introduced himself to the inhabitants of middle-earth, he did it as Annatar, which translates to 'the Lord of the Gifts'. He also made his appearance appear beautiful, so the people of middle-earth would be more likely to trust him.

His plan worked, and he was able to befriend the elven smiths despite Galadriel's (of Lórien) and Gil-Galad's (the high elven king of Noldor) distrust and protests. With Sauron's assistance the Rings of Power were forged – rings which gave the bearers the wisdom and power to help govern the races of Arda. They were meant to be given to the leaders of each race to help them grow and prosper.

Unfortunately Sauron's intentions were not pure; in secret Sauron created a master ring which would bend all others with a ring of power to his will. This made a total of 20 rings of power: 9 for the kings of men, 7 for the dwarf lords, 3 for the rulers of the elves and the last for Sauron to control all.

The rings of power (besides the One Ring) began to manipulate the bearers into servants of Sauron. The kings of men who were gifted with the rings became nothing more than mindless servants; wraiths whose sole focus was the One Ring and the will of the One Ring's master. They fell under the thrall of the ruling ring and became known as the Nazgûl. The dwarfs however, were not so easily manipulated. Therefore Sauron killed them and took back their rings, regaining the 16 rings from men and dwarfs. The three rings of the elves stayed in elvish hands, much to the Dark Lord's chagrin.

Unknown to Sauron at the time, the three rings for the elves were not made with his directions; Celebrimbor, leader of the elven-smiths had made those three rings on his own. Therefore when Sauron showed his true colours to the people of middle-earth and began to take over, the elves were better prepared to counter-act.

Once the elves realized what Sauron's true intentions were, they waged war on Sauron in what became known as the War of Elves and Sauron. This also marked the beginning of the Dark Years, the time in which Sauron ruled and dominated the majority of Arda, a period which lasted from 1693 S.A. to 3441 S.A.

Even though the elves still had access to three untainted rings of power, they could not hope to contend with the One Ring. Thankfully aid came from the Númenóreans, the most powerful of the race of men, having descended from Elros, Elrond's twin brother who had chosen a mortal life unlike the immortal Rivendell Lord. The Númenóreans were from the island Númenor, situated between Valinor and the rest of middle earth.

With help from the Númenóreans, Sauron was driven back until Mordor. It was there that Sauron decided to make his fortress, Barad-dûr. The fortress was so great, it took 550 years to build. From then on Sauron became known as the Lord of Mordor.

Sauron began to create an army with those that were allies from the war with Melkor, namely orcs and trolls. He also gained power over most of the men living in the east and south, gaining the titles 'Lord of the Earth' and 'King of Men'.

In 3261 S.A., the last Númenórean king came to middle earth with an army so large and powerful that Sauron's forces chose to flee rather than fight. Since Sauron knew that he could not hope to defeat this army, he allowed himself to be captured by the Númenórean king.

Once captured Sauron used his beautiful appearance and his silver tongue to his advantage, eventually going from prisoner to chief advisor of the king. A decade later, Sauron convinced the king to attack Valinor, the land in which the Valar made their home where only immortals were allowed to dwell. He convinced the king that whoever controlled the Undying Lands would live forever.

Even though the Númenóreans had the greatest army ever seen in Arda, when they reached the shores of Valinor, Eru, the One God, intervened by plunging the entire island of Númenor under the sea and drowning the Númenórean army. Only a few faithful Númenóreans were spared; including Elendil and his sons Isildur and Anárion, who were the leaders of the faithful and the future founders of the kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor. They also reaffirmed the friendship between elves and men, creating the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. It was said that one day, through their bloodline, the honour of men would be restored.

The Númenóreans were not the only ones who felt the wrath of Eru; Sauron's body was also destroyed, but thankfully for him he was still able to survive and was able to make his way back to Arda as a spirit. With help from the power of the ring, the dark lord was able to regain a physical form and re-amass his forces, including the dreaded Nazgûl – his most feared servants. But from then on Sauron was unable to take the fair and pleasing forms which had helped him hoodwink the elven-smiths and the Númenóreans. Therefore Sauron was forced to conquer through strength and fear instead of manipulation.

The War continued, and finally the Alliance was able to invade Mordor and lay siege on Barad-dûr, a siege which lasted 7 years. Sauron was eventually forced to leave his tower and fight himself.

During the battle he was overcome and was physically killed by Gil-galad and Elendil, though both died and had their weapons broken in the act. Sauron however continued fighting since the power of the ring kept him from truly dieing. He set his sights on the last remaining king of men, Isildur (Anárion had died earlier in the war). Isildur picked up the hilt-shard of Narsil, his father's sword, and cut of the Ring of Power from Sauron's hand with it.

Although the one ring of power increased Sauron's power and was extremely helpful in his quest to rule the world, because of the power needed to bend the other rings of power to his will, Sauron was forced to put most of his native power into it. He also ensured that the Ring would respond only to him, fearful of anyone trying to usurp him. This caused the ring to be very much a part of him; the ring stabilized, augmented and focused his magic. It also became important for keeping a solid form after the defeat with the Númenóreans at Valinor. Therefore Sauron was quite dependent on the one ring.

When the One Ring was taken from him, Sauron could feel the build of wild chaotic power generated without a proper stabilizer and outlet. Afraid of death and defeat, Sauron concentrated on staying alive and traveling somewhere where he could regenerate his strength. Somewhere where he wouldn't be in the mercy of elves or the Valar. As he felt the magic began to respond, he tried to pull those around him and what they ane he had on them through with him, hoping that the prince of men who took his ring would come as well so he could get the ring back.

Finally the build up of power reached a critical point, and a magical tsunami swept through those present at the battle, throwing most to the ground. All that was left in the immediate area where Sauron had once stood was his charred and smoking helmet. By all appearances Sauron seemed to have been defeated for good.

What no one knew was that the magical explosion didn't kill the Dark Lord. The wave that swept through the armies was nothing but a backlash. The magical explosion was actually so big that it cut through the fabric between worlds, dragging 3 figures and one bodiless entity with it.

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_**Earth…again  
April 18, 2452 (440 A.E. or 3016 T.A.) **_

When Sauron had first arrived in the new world, he didn't care much for anything except finding a suitable place to rest and regain his strength. The amount of power needed to ensure that any objects that he and his fellow travelers carried remained intact (when it was clear that objects weren't meant to leave their home world or enter a new one) was extraordinary. But it would have been worth it had the one ring taken the journey. Unfortunately the ring did not make the journey, and remained in middle earth.

The effort to preserve objects was not completely in vain though. At least two objects of value were spared: a palantír (an elvish seeing stone) and a norgûl blade (a blade which can turn others into fellow Nazgûl if they sustain an injury which is not treated in time by a skilled elvish healer).

As much as Sauron would have liked to use the palantír and find out what has happened in Arda (and more importantly what had happened to his ring), the effort needed to work a palantír normally is quite demanding, let alone trying to use it across realms.

Not to mention that if enough time passes with no word from him, his enemies will become overconfident and let down their guard.

Therefore Sauron spent the majority of the next thousand years resting. His fellow middle earth travelers weren't so inactive.

Along with Sauron, two orcs and a Nazgûl also traveled to the new realm. But unlike Sauron, their body and magic had changed. (Leaving Sauron to assume that only the fact that he didn't have a physical form was what saved him from being altered to make the journey between worlds.)

In Arda orcs are not an original race, they were not made in Eru's design but instead made by evil and unnatural means. The first orcs were created from men with elvish backgrounds. They were then tortured and mutilated beyond recognition, becoming the disfigured race of orcs.¹

Orcs were first made by Morgoth in the First Age. They were crafty and cunning, but also spiteful and cowardly. They hated everything including themselves and their masters, only serving Morgoth, and later Sauron, out of fear.

Though no more orcs were made after Melkor was trapped in the Void, both male and female orcs had been made, and they reproduced as any elf or human did (though usually in greater numbers, especially in comparison to the elves). Many don't stop to think how orcs had continued and continue to reproduce, believing that female orcs don't exist. What they don't realize is that female orcs look extremely similar to male orcs (especially under armor), and many of the orcs that men and elves fight are actually female.

Of the 3 others who came to this new world, two were orcs. One male orc, and one female orc. Unlike the dark lord, they had no need to rest and recuperate their strength. In fact, they had never felt better.

Just like those going from Earth to Arda lose the ability to manipulate magic in order to become a magical creature, those magical creatures going from Arda to Earth gain the ability to manipulate magic.

The two original orcs and their offspring enjoyed the next few hundred years immensely. They caused unimaginable chaos, using their magical and physical skills to kill, destroy (and even eat) all who came across their path.

The inhabitants of Earth however were not going to take the massacres and destruction lying down. Eventually the most powerful witches and wizards came together to deal with the threat once and for all. Even though there were hundreds of witches and wizards, it was still not enough to defeat the hordes of orcs. Finally one of the wizards came up with a solution; instead of killing all the orcs, they would bind their magic instead.

It was no easy feat, but it was finally done. The orcs' magic was bound to the witches and wizards who did the powerful and painstaking ritual and any witch or wizard who was willing to accept their service, ensuring that orcs could not easily disobey the wizards/witches that they were bound to. Such a feat would not have been possible if the orcs had known how to use their magic properly (since their magical powers were still relatively new to them).

The orcs' enslavement was only supposed to last until the creatures became more docile and less destructive – or at least until they stopped trying to kill everybody. But as time went by wizards either forgot or didn't care about their promise to free the orcs – who were now known as house-elves – and their slavery continued until everyone forgot about their origins and figured that house-elves were meant to serve wizards.

The final dimension traveler was a Nazgûl – one of the lords of men who had become twisted by a ring of power. The Nazgûl didn't change as much as the orcs had (since it was a wraith and thus living mostly in the shadow realm, the Nazgûl wasn't completely alive). But since it wasn't completely dead either and still had a physical form (unlike Sauron), it did change a little.

The Nazgûl didn't gain the ability to manipulate magic, but it did gain other abilities. It was able to feed off the emotions of others, especially feelings of happiness, hope and joy. It was still had a weakness to light magic (especially when the wizards developed a spell called the patronus charm) and was very difficult to kill. But most importantly, the Nazgûl – or dementor as the people of this world called it – gained the ability to suck out mortals' souls.

The dementor used his norgûl blade to make more dementors – no one in this realm (except for phoenixes) were able to heal a wound from it and prevent the victim from turning into another dementor. Unfortunately the Nazgûl was only able to make a few thousand dementors before a powerful wizard named Merlin was able to destroy the norgûl blade. Since then, no new dementors have been made. Fortunately, since they are so hard to kill, most of the dementors still remain hundreds of years later.

Returning back to Sauron, he spent the first thousand or so years in this new world resting. Every now and then he would try to make contact with someone in Arda via the palantír. Finally he was able to contact his second in command, the Lord of the Nazgûl. Sauron gave instructions to make another wraith (since the ninth was in this new realm with him and unlikely to go back) and to set up base in the south of Mirkwood.

It was under Sauron's instructions that the Lord of the Nazgûl became known as the Witchking and brought about the fall of the human kingdom of Arnor. He also began to rebuild Sauron's fortress Barad-dûr and re-amass Sauron's armies to be prepared when Sauron returned.

Sauron would have liked to do those things himself, but it seemed that leaving the world was harder than anticipated. For one, in theory someone could go from one world to another, but to make the journey the individual is changed to better suit their new home. The new world becomes their new home because they cannot go back; the individual would probably be unable to change back anyway, and trying to do it would prabably kill them. Fortunately for Sauron he wasn't changed when he first came to Earth since he didn't have a physical form. Unfortunately, when he tried to back through the veil he was unable to. Sauron was unsure if it was because he had originaly came from Arda, or if it was because he still didn't have a body (which he needed the ring to make one). Either way it looked as though he was stuck on Earth for the foreseeable future.

While Sauron focused on his home world and his long anticipated return, time passed in the new world as well. Men grew and progressed, fought countless wars and made treaties of peace. Even while his former servants became a part of this new world, Sauron for the most part ignored it. This world was full of mortals, none wise or powerful enough to be of any interest.

The first time that Sauron became interested in the happenings of his new home was around 2500 years after arriving. Although the dementors were apparently under the control of the magical government of the area, all the dementors followed the lead of the head dementor – the former Nazgûl. And that dementor still listened to Sauron – his Lord and master – above all else. So when the magical people struck a deal with the dementors about guarding their prison, Sauron wasn't bothered, knowing that if he was ever inclined to have the dementors leave they would without a second thought.

Anyway, around 2500 years after arriving in this world that a magical dark lord began to rise. At first Sauron didn't really care – he had been around for 2500 years and had seen countless dark lords rise and fall. This one gained his attention however because he was the first to want to gain the dementors as allies (most other dark lords didn't think gaining dementors were worth the effort since they weren't easily controlled and had the power to affect them as well as their enemies negatively).

Since Sauron did not have much to do (besides giving instructions to the Witchking), he decided to see who this supposed dark lord was. He didn't reveal himself to this Voldemort character, just observed from the shadows. What he noticed surprised him; this dark lord's aura was similar to his own after making the One Ring!

Granted that the mortal's aura wasn't as strong and was (much) more damaged, but he could tell that whatever this wizard did to himself was comparable to what Sauron did in making the one ring.

Intrigued, Sauron decided to start paying attention to the events of this world.

He found out that the wizarding dark lord had split his own soul. While making the ring Sauron put most of his magic and part of his essence (so that the ring was somewhat conscious and only be able to be bent to his will), but he did not split his soul. The process he used could be compared more as making a wizarding portrait which could be used as a wand.

Though Sauron knew that every now and then humans can surprise you with a show of courage and selflessness, generally the race of men was weak and easily corruptible. To see a mortal with the determination and will to split his own soul for a quest of power and immortality was something that deserved looking into.

Things became even more interesting when the dark lord tried to kill a certain black-haired green-eyed baby – the dark curse that Voldemort used rebounded and destroyed the wizarding dark lord's physical form. Now Voldemort mirrored Sauron even more closely (however unknowingly). Most curious.

Sauron continued to watch the wizarding dark lord, Voldemort, and the baby which survived the dark curse, Harry Potter. Sauron observed as they showed more resilience and spirit than Sauron thought any mortal had. Voldemort clung to his pathetic existence with every fiber of his being, even with no hope of regaining a physical form. And the boy was given to those who belittled and abused him, yet he stayed strong, independent and sure of his own morals despite it.

Finally Voldemort got a break – a weak wizard crossed paths with the wizarding dark lord who Voldemort was able to use for his own means. Even more interesting was that in order to regain a body he had to yet again cross paths with Harry Potter.

With nothing else to do (since he was having no luck finding a means to go through the veil and get to Arda, and the Witchking was already seeing to his orders) Sauron continued to watch the events of this world.

He watched as the boy was burdened with the expectations and preconceived notions others had of who he ought to be. He watched as the other dark lord never gave up despite his followers' abandonment and repeated failures. He watched as each kept trying to outmaneuver the other to satisfy their own sense of justice and right and wrong. And most importantly, he watched as Voldemort regained a body.

Sauron knew he could not use the same ritual as Voldemort to regain a body – first of all he had no father, let alone one in this world. For the first time since arriving in this world Sauron decided to make his presence known. He approached Voldemort.

In exchange for a suitable body, Sauron would give Voldemort control of the dementors. And that was the start of a 450 year association.

Eager for control over the most dreaded creatures of the world, Voldemort poured over any information he could get his hands on to find a suitable body. It was a good thing for Voldemort that the ministry of magic denied any stories of his return – it bought him more time to work behind the scenes to not only place death eaters in key positions for spying, but it also gave him an opportunity to focus on Sauron's demands without everyone wondering why he wasn't attacking left right and centre. (And the Order thought Tom was so quiet because he wanted to hear the words of the prophesy. As if! Anyone with half a brain could guess what it says from the way his and Potter's paths always crossed.)

Finally he found a suitable ritual – it demanded a lot preparation and magic. As a show of faith for finding the ritual, Sauron allowed Voldemort's followers to 'escape' Azkaban. To keep Dumbledore and the Order from suspecting anything, Voldemort staged a trap for Potter in the Department of Mysteries the same day that Sauron planned to generate a body. That way the ministry and Dumbledore would be too busy dealing with Voldemort and his death eaters to notice the excessive use of dark magic that Sauron's ritual demanded.

The plan went without a hitch with no one the wiser of Sauron's presence. Voldemort felt that it would have been even better if Potter had died or had been captured, but at least the Order lost an important member. That event also allowed Sauron to know that the veil did indeed work, even if not for him.

Sauron preferred the forms he used to be able to take, but his new form was still better than nothing. He wasn't as beautiful as before the Númenórean failure, but a lot more pleasing than the form he had to take afterwards with only the ring to sustain it. He wasn't as good looking as the elves, but he was better than most humans. He was about 6'6, with a wide muscular frame (without being bulky). His hair was a light brown which, when it caught the light, seemed to be made from an assortment of reds, blonds and chestnut browns. His eyes were a soulful chocolate brown.

Sauron felt that his new body was suitable to help him gain others' trust (i.e. help him manipulate them).

Once he had a physical form, Sauron was once again ready to try and return to Arda. Unfortunately it seemed that whoever was in charge of inter-dimensional travel had other ideas. Sauron was still unable to leave Earth.

Thus Sauron spent the nest few hundred years giving orders via the palantír, trying to find a way to Arda and working as Voldemort's advisor.

Many other things happened in the next 450 years as well. Gandalf found out the true identity of the Witchking of Arnor and drove the Lord of the Nazgûl out of Mirkwood. The Witchking began reconstructing Barad-Dûr and breeding a large army (under Sauron's orders of course), and Saruman the White and Denethor Steward of Gondor each found a palantír.

Saruman found a palantír first, in 2463 T.A. – or 1899 in this world. At first Sauron was content in hiding his presence, just observing the wizard in the shadows. Finally he engaged contact with the head of the White Council.

Saruman was obviously wary and distrustful of Sauron and avoided contact if possible. However, over time the wizard's curiosity got the better of him. Sauron would begin by only telling tales of the First Age and asking about the happenings of the present Third Age, and of the fate of the One Ring. Over time Sauron was able to manipulate Saruman more and more, beginning with his natural jealousy of his fellow wizard, Gandalf the Grey.

After the end of the Second Age, all the rings of power were destroyed (since Sauron no longer needed them once the bearers were enslaved (Nazgûls) or killed (dwarfs)) except for the One Ring which Isildur kept and the three rings which had remained untainted by Sauron and had never left the hands of the elves. Of those three rings, Galadriel bore Nenya, the Ring of Water. Gil-galad had worn Vilya, Ring of Air, and mightiest of the three. With his death it was passed on to his chief lieutenant Elrond, the Lord of Rivendell. The final ring (Narya, Ring of Fire) was worn by Gil-galad's other lieutenant Cídan. When the wizards had first come to middle earth, they were each greeted by Cídan (who was going to leave to the Undying Lands). But unknown to them, when he greeted Gandalf, Círdan entrusted him with Narya, believing Gandalf to be the greatest of the wizards.

When Saruman found out, he was furious. He was the head of the White Council, not Gandalf, he felt that he should have been entrusted with Narya.

Sauron played on Saruman's jealousy and desire for power, ensuring that when the time came he would have an ally in the White Wizard.

Denethor hadn't found a palantír until much later, but he was easier to manipulate. Denethor loved being the ruler of Gondor and was fearful of the return of the true king. This made him easy prey for Sauron who was able to build on his fear and distrust of the elves and men of the west and north who hid Isildur's heir until he was ready to retake the thrown. This would ensure that when the time came for the destruction of Gondor, Denethor would be loath to call for aid and be helpless against the armies of Mordor.

While all that happened in Arda, more happened on Earth. Dumbledore was murdered and Harry Potter was finally captured. Hoping to recreate the affects of traveling across realms and use the boy as a guinea pig to find new ways of heading back to Arda, Sauron spent his time experimenting on the magic contained in the beings (well, just Harry really) of this world.

While being the 'advisor' for Voldemort, Sauron discovered a rather unexpected drawback from the ritual which granted him a body – it not only gave him a human body with human abilities (well wizard abilities), but it also gave him human emotions.

The dark lord of Mordor was surprised one day to realize that he was becoming fascinated and slightly obsessed with Voldemort and Harry Potter (or Iri). Usually he wouldn't care at all for mortals. The only reason he made contact with them what so ever was because he needed a way to gain a physical form and the only inhabitants of this dimension were mortals.

Even though he had watched Voldemort and Iri struggle through countless obstacles and trials while as a bodiless entity, he had never felt any admiration or fondness for them until now. Suddenly Sauron began to notice just how fascinating they were – he realized the strength needed to grow up in an abusive environment, the guts to do anything to achieve your goals, the stubbornness to remain true to yourself despite others expectations and beliefs, the determination required to survive years without a physical form, the spirit to live hundreds of years as a slave to your worst enemy as your loved ones die and the ambition to conquer the world despite the obstacles.

Now not only did Sauron have dreams of ruling Arda, he had dreams where he ruled Arda with two pets chained to his thrown, serving him for eternity.

Sauron learned from Voldemort's experiences; as much fun as ruling the world was, it was more fun if you had some form of resistance. To own such spirit and fire that Voldemort and Iri contained, to have such well balanced and independent pets that would never become compliant and would forever need a disciplining hand to put them back in their place – it made Sauron salivate just thinking about it. Sauron especially enjoyed planning for it when he was with Voldemort who was under the delusion that he was more powerful than Sauron and that Sauron was content to be under his command. The idea of unveiling his true power and showing Voldemort his true place at Sauron's feet never failed to please him.

The first thing he had to do to make that vision a reality was to find a way back to Arda, bringing those two with him as well of course. Sauron figured that what was stopping him from returning to Arda was the fact that he had already left it and therefore wasn't supposed to be able to go back. Thus Sauron came up with the idea of piggybacking a ride.

Since Sauron planned to take Voldemort and Iri along with him, and both Voldemort and Iri were exceptionally powerful, he could cloak himself in their magic and essentially sneak back into Arda. The only thing from stopping him was that in order to do that, Sauron would have to have command of their magic for the duration of the trip. Something which Voldemort and Iri wouldn't willingly let happen unless they were unconscious. Iri would also have to be free of his magical-suppression collar for Sauron to access all of his magic.

It was harder than imagined to get the desired results. Though Sauron was able to convince Voldemort to change the location of his base from Azkaban to where the portal (the veil) was located, something happened before Sauron could find a way to get Iri free of his collar and have Iri and Voldemort both conveniently unconscious beside the veil.

Iri broke out of the collar first.

By the time Sauron made his way to them, Voldemort was destroyed and Iri was passed out from the strain of not only having his magic suddenly returned to him after more than 450 years, but also the strain from the battle which led to Voldemort's demise.

Though Sauron was upset that he had lost one of his pets, he still had the other who was conveniently free of his magic-suppression collar and unconscious right beside the veil.

Sauron didn't hesitate to pick up the dark haired wizard and carry him though the veil.

The trip was slightly uncomfortable; Sauron could feel the Powers That Be try to restrict him from Arda, but using Iri's magic as a shield, he was able to get through. It was a difficult and uncomfortable journey, but Sauron felt a smirk appear as he finally found himself and his equally naked companion in the main room in the tower of Orthanc.

Finally, the Lord of the Rings has returned.

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First of all: Thank God for Wikipedia! Just about everything in this chapter is from there. 

So from now on everything happens in the LotR universe.

¹ there is no for sure origin of orcs, Tolkien himself had changed his mind a lot (see the article _Orc (middle Earth) _on Wikipedia. Therefore I took whatever parts of the existing theories best suited my story to decide how orcs were made in this LotR universe. I figured that having orcs originate from men was better since men would be more likely to be manipulated and twisted by evil than elves, this would also ensure that the orcs weren't immortal. I made the men/women chosen to become orcs have a great great great (etc. etc.) grandmother/father who was an elf, to give the orcs their elvish features, like their pointed ears.

I feel bad for making you guys wait for the reunion between the HP people, but I have to bring the rest of the story up to date first. So here's what the next few chapters are going to look like:

Ch. 9 : What happens when Harry and Sauron arrive in M.E.

Ch. 10: How Harry ended up meeting Strider and the hobbits

Ch. 11 : The reunion.

Depending on how short chapter 9 ends up being when I write it, I might combine it with Ch. 10.

But on the plus side, Ch. 11 and on there should be no more flashbacks. Yay!


	9. The Great Escape

**A/N: I know everyone is impatient for the reunion, but I need to bring everything up to date. Just remember that the reunion takes place October 20, 3018 T.A., and Iri and Sauron arrive in Arda April 18, 3016 T.A. So there's over two years to cover for Iri and Sauron.**

**Also, for the majority of this fic I'll be referring to Harry as Iri, since he has spent the last 400 years being called that and is used to it. (Not to mention that he never liked being Harry Potter because of the fame and expectations) **

**All spoken language is in Westron unless specified as otherwise.**

**Enjoy.**

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_**Orthanc, Isengard  
April 21, 3016 T.A.**_

Iri woke up feeling groggy and disoriented. He looked around not recognizing the dark obsidian chamber. What happened?

Voldemort! The duel!

Iri's eyes snapped open in realization. Voldemort was dead! But how did he get here, wherever here was? And what happened to the rest of the world, was the resistance able to reinstate democracy with Voldemort gone? And exactly how long had he been unconscious for?

Suddenly a door that Iri had yet to notice opened, revealing an old man in white robes, with a large staff and a long white beard.

The wizard – for it was obvious that that was what this new person was – just stood there and seemed to study Iri for a few tense moments. He then opened his mouth and spoke in a language that Iri didn't recognize. Iri could only stare back, dumbfounded.

When the wizard got no response, he turned around and left, sealing a confused and slightly disturbed Iri back in the windowless obsidian room.

'_What the hell is going on…_'

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**_Barad-Dûr, Mordor  
May 3, 3016 T.A,_**

Sauron was currently overseeing the construction on his almost fully rebuilt fortress. After 3000 years of being trapped in another world, forced to observe from the distance, it was good to finally be home.

Even though many things have been prepared (under his orders) for his return, some things Sauron had to see to in person. Such as the search for the One Ring.

He could feel it's power. It had obviously been dormant all these long years, waiting for his return. Now that he was back, he was prepared to search for the lost part of himself, the one thing which would enable him to finally enslave the whole of Arda.

Sauron had just arrived in Mordor, and he was already eager for the hunt. He was planning to send out his most trusted servants, the Nazgûls, to search for any trace of the ring.

While Sauron concentrates on the search for the ring and rebuilding his army, he has left Iri in the care of his new ally, Saruman the White.

He did this (besides the obvious fact that the ring is the most important thing in the world to him) because he didn't want Iri to become a liability or a weakness to him. Sauron recognized that he was slightly obsessed with the fiery captive, and he didn't want any enemies (or more importantly, any scheming allies) to realize that Iri was a potential weak point of the dark lord. Sauron was also hoping that with some time and space, the obsession would decrease.

Sauron pushed Iri out of his mind as he headed to talk to some orcs about a suspicious creature that had lived in the Misty Mountains that went by the name Gollum…

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_**Isengard  
November 14, 3016**_

Iri checked his surroundings with a wary eye. With any luck Saruman won't notice his disappearance for a few hours yet.

Iri wasn't sure if he should be thankful for his past experiences of escaping power-hungry wizards for preparing him so well for this escape, or if he should be angry that there was yet another situation that forced him to escape from a power-hungry wizard.

Sometimes Iri swore that Fate picked on him whenever she was bored (which was _a lot_). He could picture Fate, relaxing on a large comfy La-Z-Boy chair with a huge tub of popcorn watching his life as entertainment.¹

Iri had spent the past 7 months as a 'guest' of Saruman, in Isengard. At first Iri was completely clueless as to what was happening; the last thing he knew he was in Voldemort's fortress and Snake Face had just kicked the bucket (thanks to yours truly). To suddenly find himself in some unknown tower, with a wizard he had never heard of who didn't speak English – well even in Iri's terms, that was plain unusual.

Fortunately Iri had a gift that the wizard didn't know about, a gift Iri used to his utmost advantage.

You see, magic can manifest itself in people in different ways. Most people who think 'magical gift' think in terms of witches and wizards, or turning invisible, or flying. That isn't always the case (especially when considering magical creatures).

Magic can also manifest in a specific skill or talent, and not necessarily an extraordinary skill or talent. For example, the 13th century wizard Bartholomew Odius is not known to have been a particularly talented or powerful wizard, but his skill with the harp and song-writing were said to have enchanted any who heard it. And the goblins of Gringotts, even though they were unable to manipulate magic, the skill they show in their forging and craftsmanship of metals can't be classified as anything other than a magical gift. Same with the centaurs and their penchant for reading the stars and seeing the future.

Iri had a gift with languages. Even though many people had this gift to some degree, no one had it to quite the same extent as Iri.

When Iri was only 17, he asked an expert aura reader to look at his curse scar. Iri had been afraid that he might have been a horcrux, or at least have some of Voldemort's essence trapped within since he had Voldemort's gift of parseltongue. What the aura reader uncovered was both a relief and a pleasant surprise. Iri was not a horcrux, and the only permanent damage he could find was a sort of reaction that the curse had with dark magic. As for the parseltongue, Iri didn't have it. Or at least he wasn't a _true_ parselmouth. What Iri did have was a gift of languages – he could become fluent in a foreign language with only the smallest fraction of effort compared to a regular person. Apparently when Iri was younger and doing yard work, he was constantly in the presence of snakes and parseltongue, and eventually just picked up the language without realizing it, assuming that the distant chattering he had always heard when gardening was simply the neighbours.

This skill became extremely useful in this new world, especially since his host – who he later learned was called Saruman – didn't seem the least bit inclined to teach him anything.

But even with his gift learning was slow going – Saruman didn't talk to himself as much as you'd think an evil wizard genius would. And any time Saruman had guests Iri would be hidden away (but that didn't stop Iri from sneaking out and spying on them anyway).

What Iri was able to discover over the past few months was the following: he somehow was brought to another dimension by Voldemort's supposed advisor, who was in fact an immortal dark lord that was named Sauron. Iri was not the first person to come to Arda (the name of this new world), but Iri was unable to find out how many others had come and what their names had been. Saruman and Sauron had a truce of sorts and were planning to take over the world (like that was a surprise…). Sauron left Iri in Saruman's custody so he could look for some magical ring. Saruman wanted said magical ring for himself. Orcs were vicious creatures that wouldn't hesitate to eat him. Orcs hated sunlight. Saruman and some human named Wormie or something were planning something to do with a king and something called Rohan. A wizard who dresses in grey named Gandalf likes hobbits (whatever they were…). Among the races of middle earth there are dwarfs (short miners and metal craftsmen with long beards) and elves (tall, graceful immortal beings which are the most wise and powerful race).

Unfortunately, since Iri was new to this realm, he didn't know how much of what he found out was important, and how much was common knowledge to the other inhabitants of middle earth.

But Iri had a feeling that some of what he learned was not meant to be known by anyone (even though if it all ended up being useless knowledge Iri was glad to have learned it anyway). It was a good thing that Iri's life experiences had taught him to be somewhat paranoid and distrustful, becuase hiding the fact that he was quickly learning the language ended up being a good thing. The only reason that Iri's security was so light was because of the fact that Saruman thought Iri didn't understand a word he was saying and wouldn't dream of trying to escape into an unknown world where he didn't even speak the language.

Iri figured that he had a firm enough understanding of the language and of Arda in general to try and find somewhere else he could go. Even if he had no idea if there was anyone he could go to or trust, escaping now was a better option than staying here and eventually becoming a slave to a dark lord (yet again). And the sooner Iri left, the better – Saruman was beginning to get suspicious of Iri's apparent lack of progress with Westron (the language of this new world).

Mumbling thoughts of why he couldn't ever have a normal life, Iri swiftly and silently made his way to the borders of Isengard. He didn't really know where he was going, but that didn't matter – Iri just chose a direction and was sticking to it. He'd get somewhere eventually.

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_**February 27, 3018 T.A.  
Barad-Dûr, Mordor**_

Sauron gazed out at the hundreds of thousands of orcs occupying the plains in front of Barad-Dûr with a deep sense of satisfaction. All he needed was the ring and Arda was as good as his.

Pushing the thoughts of his precious ring out of his head, Sauron's mind settled on his other obsession (besides the ring and ruling middle earth of course) – Iri.

It had been over a year ago that his green-eyed pet escaped Saruman's stronghold, disappearing to who knows where (Sauron doubted even Iri knew). Sauron wasn't worried though, if there was one thing that Sauron had learned while watching Iri in his home world of Earth, it was that Iri was a survivor. Sauron had no doubts that when the time came to reclaim his naughty pet after conquering the world, Iri would still be alive.

And if he wasn't…well there were plenty of other people he could make as pets, including the high and mighty elven Lord Elrond, or the lost heir of Isildur (a suitable revenge for a family which caused him undue pain by taking his ring in the first place). Sauron just had to ignore the odd pang in his chest that such thoughts invoked.

Sauron wondered what changes had occurred in Iri – he already knew of the other dimension travelers and the changes they had experienced from Saruman. But unlike the others, Iri had already been ageless and had already been partly merged with his animagus form _before_ crossing realms. And not only that, but Iri had still been able to use magic when he was merged with his form back on Earth. Perhaps it was the actual journey of going to a new world that had what robbed the others of their ability to manipulate magic. Or maybe Iri would still be able to do magic because he had a magical animal as an animagus form. Unfortunately Sauron wouldn't know the answers to those questions until Iri was recaptured.

But until then, his faithful Nazgûl were out to bring back a creature named Gollum who had been in possession of his ring for over 500 years. Gollum was currently a prisoner of the mirkwood elves, but that didn't bother him. Sauron knew it was only a matter of time until Gollum frequented his own personal torture chamber, and reveal the location of the one ring.

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_**Orthanc, Isengard  
July 10, 3018**_

"All these long years, it was in the Shire. Under my very nose."

"Yet you did not have the wit to see it. Your love of the Halflings leaf has clearly slowed your mind."

"But we still have time. Time enough to counter Sauron if we act quickly."

"Time. What time do you think we have?" ²

And this was who he was forced to work with! The fool, had he realized that the hobbit's ring was the One Ring long before now, Saruman would have already been it's master, and he wouldn't be in this position.

Saruman had to somehow convince Gandalf to join him against the races of elves and men (and eventually against Sauron himself). Even though Saruman was now a servant of Sauron, he did it only to be on the winning side and so he could eventually take the dark lord's place.

Unfortunately, Saruman was not powerful enough on his own to defeat Sauron, but maybe with Gandalf's help it would be possible. Saruman was also somewhat desperate for an ally ever since Iri's escape; Sauron was obviously displeased and Saruman's movements were being even more closely monitored by the dark lord. Saruman had no doubt that the moment he toed the line, Sauron would get rid of him once and for all.

Saruman let the conversation flow over him as he prepared the best way to ensnare Gandalf to his side. And if the grey wizard refused by being the fool of wizard that he was, well Saruman was sure that with enough time Gandalf could be made to see reason. And the view from the top of Isengard was surely one that Gandalf would appreciate.

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_**Weathertop, Eriador  
October 6, 3018 T.A.**_

Iri observed the four children around the fire in silence. He decided that he was finally going to let himself be noticed by others. Hopefully he could find out where he was and information on where he could go.

It had been almost two years since he had escaped Isengard. He didn't know how far he traveled; Iri was continually forced to double back or go in random tangents and circles to avoid the numerous orcs that have been sent by Saruman to retrieve him. Even if Iri had been inclined to go back, he would never surrender himself to the orcs tracing him – they'd be more likely to eat him than take him back to Isengard.

Judging by the sun, he had traveled in a fairly northern direction, perhaps north-western.³ When traveling, Iri tended to stay away from anyone he came across (granted that he didn't come across many people), wary of foes and servants of Sauron and Saruman. But he liked to watch others from a distance (as long as they weren't orcs) to try and learn more about this world and it's people. He even began to pick up the elvish language from spying on a group of elves who were traveling for whatever reason. He only knows a few phrases and songs, but it's still something.

But the two years he had spent on his own weren't a complete waste; he was able to experiment with the changes in his body and magic (…again.). Iri had overheard Saruman tell the Wormie fellow not to worry about him, that he was not able to magic and was quite harmless. Iri had felt that wasn't quite true, he could still feel his magic flowing through him. In fear of attracting Saruman's attention, Iri ignored his magic while in the wizard's hold. But once he escaped, Iri had no qualms testing his body and magic.

What Iri discovered was that Saruman was partially correct; Iri could no longer do spells and the like. But as long as the magic had to do with his phoenix half, he was quite capable. And as for his body, there wasn't a lot of change, but there was some. It seemed that his phoenix attributes became even stronger. For example, in his old world, his eyes became 20/20 after merging with his phoenix form. Since coming to Arda, his eyesight has gotten even better, seeing minute details from extremely long distances. This was very useful when spying on the beings he came across.

Iri could also carry heavy objects with minimal effort. But this attribute was more of a magical one than a physical one – phoenixes have the power to make objects they carry weightless for a brief period of time. Therefore Iri would not be able to carry something large for a very long time or carry it at all if he was tired. His movements became even more graceful and fluid, allowing him to travel almost soundlessly. Iri still had a gift in healing, and with effort was able to cry a healing tear. But the effort involved had him out of commission for 3 days, which almost got him caught by a group of passing orcs. Needless to say Iri didn't try that again. And finally there was fire; in his own world, he was immune to the heat of fire and never got burned. Here he was able to manipulate fire somewhat, make it so the fire wouldn't burn anyone or make it grow and/or shrink. But Iri found that the energy required wasn't really worth it.

Iri pushed those thoughts aside to focus on the flicker of fire in the distance.

The group he was currently watching consisted of a man and four children. He only caught sight of them that morning, and was debating to himself whether he should reveal himself to them.

After leaving the elves without approaching them, Iri began to doubt he would ever find anyone that could help him. He hadn't wanted to reveal himself to the elves for three reasons: he was paranoid and wasn't willing to trust them, even though they had very good and light auras, he also didn't really know their language and they were headed in the direction he had just come from. He wasn't about to let himself be recaptured by Sauron or Saruman.

But Iri knew that he couldn't just continue roaming the world forever, he'd have to find somewhere to settle and learn about middle earth. That's why he felt his heart soar when he caught sight of this group; surely they wouldn't be too bad. After all, if he couldn't trust children then who could he trust?

With his mind made up, Iri went to reveal himself to the strangers. Too bad Iri never noticed the 9 other hooded figures that had just caught sight of the 'children' as well.

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¹ I saw a fic where Fate did just that, unfortunately I don't remember the name of the fic or it's author. 

² The dialogue between Saruman and Gandalf is from Peter Jackson's _Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring_.

³ The path Iri took was basically this: along the North-South road in Eriador to the bridge over the river Greyflood, then he followed along the river on the west bank until it split off, which made led him to follow the river Mitheithel. He followed that river until the Great East Road, which he took in the westerly direction. This led him to Weathertop. You can see a map of middle earth at www(dot)tuckburough(dot)net.

I know I cheated in a way for Harry to learn Westron so quickly, but I think the explanation I gave is a pretty good excuse. And how else is Harry going to do understand anything if he doesn't speak Westron.


	10. A Familiar Stranger

**A/N: Please review! Not only do reviews motivate me, but it lets me know what I'm doing right/wrong. Come on guys, don't make me beg.**

**Throughout the story I'm going to take some things from the movie, others from the book, and some I'm going to change altogether, and/or make it up.**

**All spoken language is in Westron for the rest of the fic, unless specified as otherwise.**

**Enjoy.**

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_**Weathertop, Eriador  
October 6, 3018 T.A.**_

Frodo honestly didn't know how his life came to this point. Hobbits were pretty unexciting creatures, preferring a simple but happy life opposed to one full of grand adventures and fame and fortune.

He was already considered with some speculation among other hobbits, how could he not with his dear uncle Bilbo as his guardian.

Bilbo Baggins, the only hobbit in recent memory who not only had an adventure, but craved for another one! A craving so strong that he decided to leave on his and Frodo's joint birthday last year, leaving everything in his possession to Frodo. Including the ring.

The ring. This was all the ring's fault. In Bilbo's original adventure over 60 years ago, he had come across a (supposedly) simple gold ring which had belonged to a miserable creature named Gollum. Bilbo later found out that the ring had the power to turn the wearer invisible, and used the ring quite often thinking it a grand trinket. If only that was all it was.

Gandalf the Grey, who was a good friend of Bilbo and basically a grandfather to Frodo, found out that Bilbo's ring was actually Sauron's ring of power, and could lead to the destruction of middle earth. Fearing that the dark lord may somehow find out about the ring's location, Gandalf bade Frodo to leave for the nearby town of Bree where he would meet him after seeing the head of the wizard's council.

After a few days involving dark riders dressed in black, a lot of hiking and a few extra companions (Frodo's distant cousins Meriadoc (Merry) Brandybuck and Peregrin (Pippin) Took had somehow ended up accompanying him and his dear friend Sam on the journey), Frodo and his friends all made it to Bree.

Unfortunately, Gandalf wasn't there.

They did meet someone else though, a ranger that went by the name Strider. He had even saved their lives by insisting the hobbits stay in his room instead of going to their own room. This saved their lives since in the middle of the night the cloaked riders – who they then found out were the dreaded Nazgûl – had gone to their room to try and kill them all.

Strider explained that he was a friend of Gandalf's that was sent here just in case the wizard was unable to come himself. The next morning the four hobbits and one ranger headed out to make their way to Rivendell.

They were currently about half-way between the Shire and Rivendell, at Weathertop, a place that Strider told them used to be a watchtower of the old kingdom of Arnor. Once they had set up camp, Strider had left to scout the area and Frodo had opted to take a nap.

When Frodo woke up, it was to a distressing sight; Sam, Merry and Pippin were cooking. With a fire. In the night. A fire in the night which anyone would see from miles around, including the Nazgûl who were still pursuing them.

Even though Frodo put it out, it was too late. They were able to see the cloaked figures of the Nazgûl approaching from all sides, making their way up the hill. With no where to go but up, the hobbits grabbed their daggers (which were like swords to them) that Strider had given them and went to the very top, hoping that Strider would come in time to help them.

And that's where Frodo currently found himself; not in his cozy hobbit hole in Bag End, but at the top of a large hill covered in ruins, surrounded by undead cloaked horrors.

Frodo knew that it was his own fault that he was in this situation, he could have said no when Gandalf told him to leave the Shire, or he could have pawned the ring onto someone else. Frodo just wished that his friends wouldn't suffer for his decision.

Sam, Merry and Pippin tried to shield him from the wraiths, but they were quickly cast aside and the Nazgûl proceeded to their intended target.

As Frodo observed the Ringwraiths approaching, he felt an all-consuming desire to put on the ring. He knew he shouldn't; the warnings of Gandalf rang clear in his head, but he couldn't seem to stop himself as he slipped the ring onto his finger.

Suddenly the image of black robed wraiths was replaced with one of pale and mighty kings. The tallest and mightiest of them came forward and bore down on Frodo.

Frodo felt almost as if he was watching himself from that moment, not in control of his body as he struck forward at the Lord Nazgûl proclaiming "O Elebereth! Gilthoniel!"

At the same time he felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder, feeling ice cold and like the deadliest of poisons had entered into his bloodstream.

With his remaining strength he wrenched off the ring from his finger and clasped it tightly in his right hand. He was distantly aware of Strider fighting the wraiths with a flaming torch in one hand and a sword in the other, and of his fellow hobbits crowding around him, asking if he was alright. He felt as if everything was cast in shadows, and all noise was like a distant echo and strangely distorted.

Suddenly his head became clearer, his sight and hearing began improving. He felt strong enough to focus his eyes on the unfamiliar figure leaning over him that he hadn't noticed before. He felt something wet land on his injured shoulder; looking down he saw it looked like liquid pearls, covering his injury. He watched as his wound started to heal, a strange vapour escaping the wound. When the wound was fully healed, he looked up and noticed the greenest eyes he had ever seen before succumbing to unconsciousness.

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Iri had just decided to reveal himself to the children when hooded figures started appearing from all around, surrounding the group Iri had been watching.

The cloaked figures sent shivers up Iri's spine; they reminded him of dementors in the way that they seemed to glide more than walk and the way they seemed to radiate darkness and cold. Iri couldn't let these obviously dark beings do whatever they had planned to do. He had to help those kids!

So Iri soon found himself racing up the hill after them, ignoring the little voice in his head calling him foolish for rushing in headlong into a situation where he didn't know _what_ he was fighting, _how_ to fight them, or _who_ he was going to help.

It seemed that Iri was not the only one who noticed the children's predicament, for the adult traveling with them was also sprinting up the hill to try and protect them from the cloaked figures.

When Iri reached the top it was to the sight of the man fighting off the dementor-things and three of the children huddled around an obviously injured fourth one.

Since Iri didn't know what those cloaked things were, and therefore didn't know how to fight them, he decided to try to be of use by healing the injured child. When he got closer he noticed that the four figures weren't children despite their size; their faces were that of young men. Perhaps they were dwarfs, but Saruman had said that dwarfs were stocky and had beards. Well whatever these not-children were, Iri still wanted to help.

He gently pushed his way to the injured one's side to take a look at how bad his wound was. It looked like a normal stab wound, but Iri could feel the dark power radiating from it. Trying to heal it normally Iri discovered a piece of the blade working its way through the victim's bloodstream towards his heart. Iri was eventually able to remove it, but trying to heal the rest of the wound yielded no results, and he didn't know enough about the plants or animals here to know what would help for healing. Iri also didn't know what the dark magic surrounding the wound would do.

Afraid of the none-child's death, Iri decided to use his most potent aid; his healing tears. After sending a quick prayer to whoever would hear him that those around him were trustworthy and would help him, Iri focused his magic and leaned over so the tears would land on the wound. As the first tear fell, the none-child flinched and seemed to gain some awareness. The second fell and black smoke reeking of dark magic began leaking from the wound. As the third fell the wound began to close. After the fourth, the wound became fully healed.

Iri was only able to offer a tired smile to his now aware patient before the energy needed took its toll and he fell unconscious.

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Strider finished chasing away the last of the Nazgûl and hurried to see to Frodo. The only problem was that someone else was already there.

Strider watched as the stranger began to cry on Frodo's wound. But the tears didn't look like normal tears; they were large and looked like liquid pearls. And more amazingly, they seemed to be healing a wound from a morgul blade, something even elven medicine wasn't able to fully heal.

The healing seemed to have sapped the stranger of all his strength, for no sooner was the wound closed than the stranger had slumped unconscious.

"Strider, who is that?"

Strider had thought that maybe the hobbits knew who it was, since they had obviously allowed him to help the injured Frodo, something the over-protective hobbits wouldn't have done for a normal stranger (they definitely had been very wary and distrustful towards him even days after traveling together).

"I do not know master Merry, but we cannot just leave him here after all he has done to help Mister Frodo. Quickly, gather your things, we must leave at once."

"But what happened? Will Mister Frodo be alright?"

Strider picked up the sword which had injured Frodo, watching as the blade seemed to dissolve like smoke in the air, leaving nothing but the hilt in his hand.

"Frodo was stabbed by a morgul blade. I do not know how this stranger healed it, but for that we should be grateful. But we must leave lest the Nazgûl return."

Sam went to gather all their equipment from their camp while Merry and Pippin carried Frodo down to Bill, the pony they had gotten in Bree.

Strider slung the stranger over his shoulder, surprised at how small and light he was. Who was this figure? As far as Strider knew, only elves had healing powers and only Elrond could compete to the level that he had just witnessed. But this being was too small to be an elf; maybe he was an elfling? But then surely Strider would have seen or heard of him before, elflings were rare and highly celebrated, so surely Strider would have heard of his birth.

As Strider placed the stranger on top of Bill, he moved the stranger's hair out of the way. The ears were not pointed, so he wasn't an elf. And he was much too young to be an istari. Who could this figure be?

Strider decided to figure out the mystery that was their companion later as carried the unconscious Frodo across his shoulders and started ushering the other three hobbits to start moving.

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_**October 11, 3018 T.A.**_

Thankfully Frodo was back to normal by the next day, much to everyone's pleasure. Their mysterious guest had yet to wake up though. They were forced to trickle water in his mouth and the hobbits were starting to fear that he would never wake. Frodo took to tending to the stranger whenever they made camp since he knew that it was from helping him that the stranger was like this.

And that was how Strider found himself 5 days after the Nazgûl attack sitting by the fire smoking pipe-weed watching as Frodo gently washed the strangers face with a damp cloth on the other side of the fire. But as Frodo moved the stranger's hair back to wash his forehead, Strider did a double take.

"Frodo, move your hand for a moment. I want to see our guest's forehead."

Confused, Frodo complied. And there, clear as day, was a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt.

_**Flashback**_

(A/N: Remember that Aragorn grew up with Fred and George as older brothers, Tonks as an aunt and Sirius and Remus as uncles)

_Estel was 8 years old and was hiding from everyone in a wooded area in Rivendell. He knew that everyone was worried, but he didn't want to hear one more word about Harry Potter ever again._

_Estel loved Fred and George, who were his older brothers' boyfriends and also acted like brothers to him. And he loved Sirius who was like his uncle and always visited him and played with him._

_When Estel learned that Uncle Sirius and the others were from another world, he was excited to hear about it. First Uncle Sirius would tell stories about when he was in school, and all the pranks and games he used to play. And then he would tell stories about his best friend, and how they were so close, many mistook them for real brothers. And then he told stories about Harry. His godson._

_Sirius would get so sad and wistful when he talked about Harry, and at first Estel was upset that it made Sirius so sad. And then Estel got jealous because he knew that if Sirius could, he would go back to Harry and leave Estel behind. Estel felt that Sirius didn't love him anymore, he only loved Harry._

"_Estel, are you out here?"_

_Estel recognized the voice of his other uncle, Remus. He didn't see Remus as often as Fred, George or Sirius, but he still liked Remus' company, especially when it was time for bed and Remus would read to him. But even though he liked talking to Remus, he didn't want to be found right now and held his breath, hoping that Remus would walk by without noticing him._

_Unfortunately Remus found him anyway._

"_There you are. Everyone is worried, why don't you come back in?"_

"_I don't want to. And nobody wants me anyway, they want Harry."_

_Remus paused for a second, then taking a deep breath he sat down next to Estel and settled in for a long talk._

"_Now that's not true, why would you say that?"_

"_It is true! It's all Sirius ever talks about! Harry this, and Harry that! He doesn't love me, he only loves Harry!" _

"_It's true that Sirius loves and misses Harry, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't love you too. It's like saying that you don't love Elrond because you love Sirius."_

"_But that's not true! I love Ada _and_ Sirius!"_

"_I know that. Your heart can love lots of people. Just like Sirius can love you _and_ Harry. It's just that, remember that Sirius and Harry's dad were best friends?" at Estel's nod Remus continued. "Well, Sirius promised James that he would always be there for Harry and protect him. Sirius thinks that he didn't do as he promised, so he not only misses Harry, he feels guilty that he couldn't have done more for Harry too. That's why Sirius gets so sad after talking about Harry and wants to be on his own for a little while. But I know that Sirius loves you very much, and would hate to see you sad. It would have been Sirius' greatest wish to see you and Harry happy." _

_Estel and Remus ended up talking for a few more hours as Estel processed everything he had heard. It was with Remus' help that he realized that he wasn't loved any less than before, and that Sirius loved him for who he was, not as Harry's replacement. Ever since then Estel thought of Harry as a sort of brother that he had never met, one that would have grown up beside him and played with him if he hadn't been kidnapped by the dark lord from Sirius' world. _

_**End Flashback**_

Since that day he had always enjoyed hearing stories about his 'brother' and had learned as much about Harry as he could. Which was why Strider could barely believe his eyes when he saw the distinct lightning-bolt shaped scar across their guest's forehead.

Strider began to hungrily take in every other feature of this 'stranger'. His frame was small, his hair as black as night with the red streaks Fred and George had described. And Strider would bet that if the stranger's hair was short, it would stick up everywhere in big a mess.

"Frodo, did you happen to see what colour eyes our friend has?"

"Yes, his eyes where green. In fact, I have never seen such green eyes; they were greener than the grass in the meadow by Hobbiton."

There was no doubt about it, this had to be him. Strider felt his hands shake as he whispered out "Harry Potter".

"Who?"

Strider broke out of his stupor to regard the hobbits that were now hanging on his every word.

"How much do you know of the people from the other world?"

It was Merry who answered.

"Well everyone knows of them. Misters Fred and George and Miss Tonks come to visit the Shire every few years, they're lots of fun. Why it was Fred and George who taught me and Pip how to light a fireworks."

The hobbits waited with baited breath for Striders explanation; not only did this sound interesting but they had never seen the calm and collected ranger this tense before.

"Growing up, I had known all the otherworlders and had seen all of them every now then; some more often than others. One person they had mentioned often was a young man who had been very dear to all of them. His name was Harry Potter, and was described as having the greenest emerald eyes you'd ever seen, hair as black as midnight with dark red streaks running through it, and most importantly, a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead that was one of a kind."

Strider continued as the hobbits looked over the stranger in a new light.

"The only thing I don't understand is his apparent youth; he ought to be almost 500 years old by now, but he looks like a man just out of childhood. The others from his world had only stopped aging when they entered Arda, so unless he had been in middle earth this whole time without anyone realizing it, I don't see how he's still alive."

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The next day Iri woke, confused as to where he was and what he was doing on the back of a pony.

"Good morning. It is good to see you awake; the hobbits were beginning to fear that you'd remain unconscious forever."

What? Hobbits? Iri looked around and noticed that he was with the group that he had been watching before. Looking at the none-children, he wondered if maybe they were the hobbits; from the way Saruman said that Gandalf liked them, he had thought hobbits were a type of food.

Iri tried to speak, but when he opened his mouth all that came out was a croak. One of the hobbits handed him a canteen of water, which Iri took with a grateful smile.

"You are not from this world are you?"

Iri looked at the man with bewilderment.

"No. How did you know?"

The man paused for a moment and asked the last question Iri had ever thought would come out of his mouth.

"Are you Harry Potter?"

Iri just sat in stunned silence for a few moments. Harry Potter; that was a name that even those in his home world had forgotten. The last time he was addressed as Harry had been hundreds of years ago. How had this man known it? Or even more importantly, how did he recognize Iri as being Harry Potter?

"Wha-? How?"

"It is you, isn't it? But how are you still alive? Where have you been?"

Iri just looked at the man who seemed to be getting more excited by the moment. What was going on?! How did this man know who he was? How much did this man know?

"I'm sorry, but I don't recognize you. How is it that you know who I am?"

The man pulled himself together and became the calm man Iri had watched from the distance once again.

"I was able to recognize you because I know others from your world who told me about you."

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Strider sat back, watching over Harry – or Iri as he asked to be called – and the hobbits as they slept. Strider hadn't been this excited or filled with this much nervous energy in a long time. Seeing Iri had brought back many childhood memories and feelings, and he couldn't seem to convince his mind that this was a stranger, not the brother Estel had always imagined.

But looking over Iri's deceivably small and delicate-looking frame, this time in Strider's mind, instead of Harry being the older brother who taught him about slaying giant snakes and stopping evil dark lords, Strider was now the older brother, watching out for the person who has always had to rely on himself.

Strider thought back to the conversation he had just had with Iri. Apparently Iri had only been in Arda for just over two years, a prisoner of Saruman's. This was distressing news since Strider and Frodo knew that Gandalf had gone to meet with the white wizard before meeting with them for the journey to Rivendell (which he had gone missing for). Iri had also explained about his animagus form and the reason he had lived so long.

In return Strider began telling Harry about Fred, George, Remus, Tonks and Sirius. He told of how their body and magic had changed when entering Arda (something that Iri confessed had happened to him too), and about some childhood memories he had of them.

The hobbits had all listened in as well with rapt attention; not only were they good stories, but they revealed a side to the experienced ranger the hobbits never knew he had. It was hard to picture the calm and dangerous Strider as a small child.

Strider knew that Iri hid how much those stories affected him, and how much he appreciated them as well. Strider wondered what the past few hundred years had been like for Harry; thinking that everyone you loved was dead and being a slave to the man who killed them.

Strider knew that it was foolishness to keep thinking of Iri as his brother, but he couldn't help it. With a small kiss to the slumbering man's forehead, Strider swore that he would keep Iri safe and happy – as any good brother would do.

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**_October 20, 3018 T.A._**

Over the next week Iri heard much about his long-lost friends and family. He couldn't believe that they were here, alive and happy.

He and Strider, or Aragorn, had bonded, making Iri feel as though they had known each other since forever. And the hobbits and the two men had also formed a strong friendship – especially with Frodo, who felt indebted to Iri for healing his wound.

Iri hadn't felt this happy and carefree in a _long_ time, despite the fact that the Nazgûl – which Iri had learned the dementor-thingies were called – were still pursuing them relentlessly.

The group was now a little over a day's journey from Rivendell, but the Nazgûl were closing in on them.

Suddenly, Strider put his hand up in a halt position and bade everyone to be silent and get down. Soon they heard the approaching sound of hooves.

They caught sight of a figure riding on a pure white horse. He was obviously and elf and had long blond hair.

Upon seeing him, Strider sprang out from his hiding spot and greeted the elf in elvish. The elf answered back and even though Iri and the hobbits couldn't understand the words, they could hear the note of panic and haste in the elf's voice. After talking to the elf for a bit longer, he introduced him to the rest of the group.

"This is Glorfindel who dwells in the house of Elrond." Glorfindel then continued.

"I have been trying to find you for nine days. The Nazgûl are hot on your trail and riding like the wind towards us. We must hurry. Frodo, my horse is fast and he will be able to beat even the steeds that the enemy rides upon. You must stay upon him lest you need to go on ahead."

"I'm sorry, but I won't leave my friends behind to the mercies of the black riders while I go on ahead to safety!" Frodo protested.

"But your friends would not be in danger if you were not with them. Once you go on ahead, the wraiths will pursue you and what you carry and leave the rest of us in peace. For it is not us that the Nazgûl are after, but you and the ring."

Properly convinced, Frodo mounted the elf's steed. No sooner than he did than the sound of galloping hooves reach their ears.

"Ride on! Ride on, the enemy is upon us!" and then in elvish Glorfindel addressed the horse. "Noro lim, noro lim, Asfaloth!"

And just like that the horse sprang forward and ran like the wind. Frodo held on tight as the horse sped onward, continuously followed by the Ringwraiths. Frodo didn't know how long the pursuit lasted, it felt like an age of panting breaths and reaching hands until Frodo finally caught sight of the Ford of Bruinen.

As Frodo reached the opposite bank of the river, he looked back to see what had become of his pursuers. All nine riders were at the water's edge, staring at the hobbit at the other side. The lead Nazgûl spurred his horse forward, into the water.

Frodo drew his sword, brandishing it to his foes.

"Go back! Go back to the Land of Mordor and follow me no more!"

The riders laughed at him, a sound which sent chills running through Frodo's body, and responded.

"Come back! Come back! To Mordor we will take you!"

"Go back!"

"The Ring! The Ring!"

And with that last cry the riders spurred their horses forward, into the river.

"By Elbereth and Lúthien the Fair," Frodo yelled, lifting his sword high in the air "you shall have neither the Ring nor me!"

The lead wraith stopped and lifted his hand. Frodo felt as if he were struck dumb, his tongue felt glued to the roof of his mouth and his sword broke and fell out of his limp and shaking hand.

As the foremost Nazgûl was about to set foot on the shore, a sound of rumbling and roaring rushing water came to their ears. The water level began to rise and from around the bend came a cavalry of water horses and riders, charging at the wraiths and pulling them and the beasts on which they rode under the torrents of water and carried them down the river away from the hobbit.

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Iri walked along the road with Strider, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin and two new faces; Lord Elrond of Rivendell and Gandalf the Grey, a wizard.

Even though Strider, Iri and the other hobbits reached the Ford a few hours after Frodo had, Frodo had waited for them, along with Elrond and Gandalf. Frodo told everyone what had happened and Gandalf explained that Elrond had felt a dark presence approaching his borders, and so they had gone out to investigate. On seeing the nine trying to cross the river, Elrond had released a great flood (since he controlled the river) that was augmented by Gandalf.

Now the group of 8 was silently making their way back up to Rivendell. Iri looked forward to finally having a nice cozy bed to sleep on. What he wasn't expecting was that there was a welcoming committee.

There were 4 elves waiting, all with dark hair, one was female and two were identical. But Iri barely noticed them; his attention was fixed on the 5 other people standing there. For there was his family, long thought dead, alive and healthy just as Aragorn had described.

Iri was glad he had known about them before this, for if he had met them without any forewarning, Iri didn't know what he would have done. His hands were shaking uncontrollably as it was, and he couldn't seem to remember how to speak as time seemed to stand still.

It was Sirius that first broke the silence, but he only managed to whisper a weak "Harry" before he fainted, caught by the still shell-shocked Remus.

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¹ All that stuff that Frodo says to the Nazgûl and the Nazgûl's responses were taken word per word from the books. Plus the elvish stuff that Glorfindel tells his horse. 

So here are a few facts (for this story, not necessarily canon): Frodo and Bilbo celebrated their respective 33rd and 111th birthday on Sept. 22, 3017. This was an important birthday because for hobbits, you reach adulthood when your 33 (the twenties are referred to as the tweens, and are equivalent to human teens) and the 111th birthday is like a human's 100th; an old age to strive for. It was mainly the fact that Frodo was now an adult and could legally inherit everything that had made Bilbo wait so long to leave the Shire.

I followed the movies and not the books for how long it took for Gandalf to realize that Bilbo's ring was the one ring and when the fellowship started; Frodo is now only 34 as opposed to 50.

Merry is 32, Pippin is 28 and Sam is 38. Again these are not necessarily their real ages, it's just the ones I'm giving them.

The reunion is next chapter, yipee! This also marks the end of flashbacks and the beginning of pure LotR stuff.

Okay fine; I'll beg for reviews. Pretty please review!

Come on people, chapter 9 had over 100 hits, this story is on 23 people's story alert and 10 people's favorites and on 6 C2 communities. But it seems like it's only the same 5 people reviewing. I crave feedback! I want to know how I'm doing, so lay it on me, the flames and encouragements. (Just make sure that if it's flamers, don't just tell me I suck, tell me why I suck so I can improve.)


	11. The Reunion part 2

**A/N: I kinda feel bad about my rant about the lack of reviews, apparently I had the anonymous review thingie disabled (I didn't even know you _could_ enable/disable it…) so sorry about that. And thank you Jina de Mars for pointing that out to me.**

**Also thanks to all that reviewed. It makes me happy like I just had a big bowl of ice cream.  
**

**So without further ado, the long awaited for reunion scene! Yay!**

**Enjoy.**

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_**Rivendell, Eriador  
October 20, 3018 T.A.**_

Iri didn't know how they had all managed to get to this room; all he could remember was grasping arms, a lot of tears, mumblings of "Oh my God, you're real" and a lot of hugs.

Somewhere in the midst of all that, Sirius woke up and hasn't let go of him since. But now the group of ex-wizards (and one ex-witch) found themselves in a large bedchamber which consisted of many comfy looking chairs and a bed that could have easily fit them all, all of them drinking in Iri's presence and Iri drinking in theirs.

Finally Iri broke the silence.

"So the veil…it was a portal all along, huh?"

That seemed to break the tension and soon voices could be heard all through the night telling stories of what they had been through the past few hundred years, and what they had thought the fates of others had been.

They didn't even leave the room the whole of the next day (or the day after that); Gandalf (and many elves carrying platters of food) had come in explaining that the council would be postponed until the 25th so that the foreign representatives could have time to rest from their long journeys, and so everyone could have their own separate reunions (like the other hobbits with Bilbo, and Aragorn with Arwen).

And so that was how Iri and his long thought lost family spent the next three days; talking about anything and everything, until their voices would grow so hoarse and their eyes would droop so much they'd end up sleeping in the giant bed in a comfortable heap, only to wake up the next morning and do it all again.

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_**October 23, 3018 T.A.**_

Sirius watched over Harry's sleeping form with tenderness. God, he had thought he had lost him long ago. Had lost any hope of seeing him again over two hundred years ago. To see him again, alive and well, it was more than he had ever imagined.

Harry didn't talk much about his experiences in Voldemort's clutches, but Sirius could hardly blame him. Imagine all that he must have endured for over 400 years! But not any more. If there was one thing Sirius regretted more than anything else, it was that he hadn't been there for Harry when he had needed him, even more than he regretted making Peter the Potter's secret keeper. (Sirius had had no reason to suspect Peter as the death eater spy. Had Peter been loyal, Sirius' plan would have worked without a hitch. Sirius had had no control over Peter's loyalties or actions. But it had been Sirius' decisions to get revenge instead of taking care of Harry that had allowed Harry to grow up in a family that detested and abused him, his actions of leaving headquarters that robbed Harry of his second father.)

Sirius now had a second, or rather third, chance to be there for Harry, to become a family. And he vowed that he would do everything in his power to keep his godson safe and happy.

With a determined glint in his eye and a new purpose in his life, Sirius threw an arm over the sleeping Harry's shoulders and settled down to sleep.

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Iri watched as Sirius joined the others in slumber and carefully extracted himself from the mass of bodies. Iri had long ago perfected the art of fake sleeping to avoid Voldemort and had no trouble fooling his friends.

Iri made his way to the balcony and let out a heartfelt sigh as he watched over the picturesque scenery. As thrilled as he was to see everyone again, especially after believing them all dead (because of him no less), it was still a little (okay, _very_) overwhelming.

Iri had spent the past 400 years emotionally isolating himself from everybody. After everyone he had loved had died (or at least after Iri had _thought_ they had died), he had never formed any new relationships because a) he could only leave Voldemort's side once every few years (which was hardly enough time to establish a good relationship) and b) Iri didn't think he could stand the continuous heartbreak of having everyone he grew to care for die, whether because of Voldemort or old age, while he was forced to linger in the land of the living, forever separated from his loved ones. Scratch that, Iri _knew_ that he wouldn't have been able to stand the heartache of continuously getting attached to people and seeing them die.

And as for Voldemort, his only constant, Iri refused to develop any sort of feelings for him besides hate, disgust and scorn.

When Iri had discovered that he was in another world, he had almost broken down; how much could he take? Would he ever die and join his loved ones?!

Only Iri's considerable survival skills and the fact that those kinds of things always happen to him, prevented Iri from doing much else besides blinking at the news of his new situation.

And so Iri pushed all other thoughts out of his head and did what he did best; he focused on the present, he found out all he could about his new situation and he escaped yet another dark wizard.

Iri didn't even know what he had planned to do, but it was in Iri's nature to keep fighting and surviving. So Iri fought and survived even if he would have liked nothing better than to die and see his family again.

And then Iri had met Strider and the hobbits; and more importantly, he learned about his _not_ dead family. Iri wouldn't even let his mind think on the consequences of what he heard; this wouldn't, _couldn't_, ever happen to him. His loved ones always died, leaving him alone on his own to stumble along. Iri couldn't take the chance of getting his hopes up, only to have them smashed again. Iri began distancing himself from his 'family' in his mind, separating Strider's Sirius from his Sirius, Rohan's Remus and Tonks from his Remus and Tonks, etc. As far as Iri was concerned, they were completely different people.

And then, Iri couldn't deny the truth anymore. It was them. Iri had been frozen to the spot, even though subconsciously he had always known that Strider's world travelers really were his family.

Iri couldn't remember the last time he cried, laughed and talked so much. He was so happy. He got his family back.

But as the days passed, Iri began to have doubts again. It was the way that Remus and Tonks were so comfortable in giving each other a small peck on the lips, or the way that Fred and George would talk about Elrohir and Elladan, and the way that Sirius had matured and healed emotionally since he had last seen him. Some were small things, others were big things; but they all proclaimed '_you missed this; we all changed and are not the same people anymore_' in big bold letters to Iri.

And they were not the only ones who had changed. Iri had become self-resilient, depending on no one, and used to little to no contact. It was what helped him survive the past few hundred years. To come back, and be constantly surrounded, have continuous physical contact (whether as a hug, an arm over his shoulders or mussing up his hair, someone was always touching him as if to make sure he was real and wouldn't disappear), and not have any solitude was very distressing and overwhelming for Iri.

It was also the fact that they obviously didn't realize that 450 years had passed on Earth the same as it passed here in Arda. Fred and George weren't so bad; they had seen Harry fight and lead both in school and out of it, and recognized that Iri would be even more independent and headstrong now.

Remus and Tonks obviously still saw him as a man not quite out of childhood; they were constantly trying to shield him from some of the darker aspects of this world when telling their story, and spoke to him much the same way as they had all those years ago. But at least they were trying to replace their vision of Harry with the man before them now.

Sirius was the worst. Iri loved Sirius, but it was plain to see that Sirius still thought of him as his little godson, someone he felt needed unlimited protection and love. (Iri knew that Sirius meant well, but it was too much to take). Sirius wouldn't even call Harry by his preferred name of Iri, insisting that Harry was the name his parents gave him, so Harry was the name Sirius would use.

As much as Iri loved and missed his godfather, Sirius was doing a good job of frustrating him to no end. Iri could tell that he would have many problems in the future convincing Sirius that he was a fully grown adult – he was 474 for Circe's sake – and more than capable of taking care of himself.

Feeling more tired now, Iri decided to get some rest and climbed back into the giant bed with the rest of his family. He pushed all thoughts out of his head – he didn't know what his future in this new world would be, but he would face it the same way he always does – head on and one day at a time. Maybe coming to this new world would be a good thing; somewhere to start fresh. Somewhere he could just be himself and live a normal life. Iri spared one last look at his sleeping friends; as exasperating as they may be at times, they were still family and Iri was indefinitely grateful that they were alive and well.

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_**October 24, 3018 T.A.**_

"Hurry up Sam! The feast is about to start!"

After spending the last 3 days with his friends from Earth, Iri and the others decided to separate for a bit and have a bit of a breather (though Sirius was clearly reluctant to until he remembered that he hadn't seen Aragorn yet).

So Iri spent most part of today in the company of his four hobbit friends and Frodo's uncle Bilbo. Iri liked the hobbits; they were nice and cheery people and made good company. And Bilbo was always enthusiastically telling a story or singing a song – Iri thinks that he had learned just as much about middle earth from one day with Bilbo than the rest of the time he had been here put together.

Lord Elrond was holding a feast tonight in honour of all the visitors. Iri was quite curious about them; according to Bilbo they had come from all over middle earth for various reasons. Iri was looking forward to learning more about his new home and its people.

Elrond was kind enough to provide Iri with clothes, since the only things he had were old and suffering from much wear-and-tear after 2 years in the wild. Compared to what he was used to, the fancy elvish garbs felt very odd but welcome to Iri.

Once all the hobbits were ready to go (except for Bilbo who insisted that he didn't go to such things and would rather work on his book (_There and Back Again: A Hobbits Tale_, the story of Bilbo's adventure involving 13 dwarfs and a dangerous dragon) and/or make up songs), Iri and the four young hobbits made their way to the dining hall.

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"Mae govannen Aragorn."

"Mae govannen Legolas."

Legolas always enjoyed his visits to Rivendell; he had known Elladan and Elrohir since he had been a small elfling and had spent much of his time with the twins out in the wild hunting orcs. Therefore it was no surprise that when Estel became a member of Elrond's family that Legolas and Aragorn became good friends as well.

Too bad this wasn't a social visit from the Prince of the Woodland Realm, but a visit to convey unfortunate news. Elrond told him to wait until tomorrows meeting to tell anyone else, so for the past few days Legolas has been relaxing and greeting old friends.

"I heard that there is a new traveler from the other realm here in Arda, and that he is here with us tonight. Is that true?"

"I suppose it's pointless to hide anything from an elf's keen hearing" Aragorn responded with a smile "but you would be correct. He had even traveled with me and the hobbits when returning to Imladris."

Legolas didn't know the dimension travelers as well as Aragorn did (they usually didn't travel as far north as Mirkwood) but he still considered them friends and was curious to meet the newest one.

"It is too bad the other world has no elves – if it did then maybe someone worthwhile would enter Arda."

"Ha! Even if they did have elves, they would be unable to make it through the portal due to their large heads!"

This was a common argument among Aragorn and Legolas; trying to prove that their race was the better one. It was all in jest of course, even though those who didn't know them might think they were serious.

Before Legolas could retort, Aragorn interrupted.

"There is our new friend now. He's with the hobbits."

Legolas turned to look and found himself speechless. Legolas didn't often admire the beauty of people, he was still quite young (in elvish standards at any rate), so he had no need or want to find a partner and settle down yet. But he couldn't help but stare at the being surrounded by hobbits. He looked regal with traditional elvish robes on, and moved with grace and precision. But his dazzling green eyes are what caught Legolas' attention the most.

"Are you quite sure that he is a human? He looks far more like an elf to me. He is even dressed like one."

"Yes I'm sure. Look at his size; he's much too small to be an elf. Just because one is pleasing to the eye does not make one an elf; he wouldn't be the first human to look so fair as to be confused with an elf as you well know."

"Yes, but usually those fair humans have elf blood in their veins."

"But not always. And he is wearing elvish clothes since he had no others, so Lord Elrond lent them to him."

Just then their conversation was interrupted by the sound of musical laughter, which turned out to be coming from Iri who was now seated beside Frodo and a dwarf.

"He must be an elf! His voice is too musical and enchanting. I've never heard a human with a voice such as that!"

"His voice is like that because his animal self (A/N: which means his animagus form) is a bird. Believe what you will my friend, but Iri is human like the others."

Legolas looked back at Iri who was currently listening intently to whatever the dwarf was talking about. Legolas couldn't imagine what Iri found so captivating – dwarfs usually just talked on end about their craft and mining, which was actually quite boring to hear. Too bad the young man wasn't sitting somewhere else, where he could find better company.

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When Iri sat down for the feast, he was to the left of a dwarf with a wrinkled face and a long white beard. On his other side was Frodo, with Sam beside him. On the dwarfs other side was a younger dwarf with a reddish-brown beard.

He looked around and noticed a few familiar faces; there was Aragorn with Sirius on one side and an unfamiliar handsome blond elf on the other. Lord Elrond sat regally at the head of the table with Glorfindel and Gandalf on either side. Fred and George sat next to identical dark-haired elves who Iri assumed were Elladan and Elrohir. Remus and Tonks sat further away on Iri's other side next to a large noble looking man. There was also a female elf who was the most beautiful being that Iri had ever seen. Her skin seemed to be illuminated in the moonlight and her hair the deepest black. Her grey eyes revealed age and wisdom. From her likeliness to Elrond and the Peredhil twins, Iri assumed that she was Arwen, the twins' younger sister.

"Welcome and well met!" the dwarf beside Iri rose and bowed "Glóin at your service."

Before Iri could respond Frodo interrupted.

"Are you _the_ Glóin, one of the twelve dwarfs that accompanied Thorin Oakenshield to the Lonely Mountain?"

Realizing his rudeness, Frodo blushed and hastily rose to bow to the dwarf, scattering the cushions he had been sitting on to give him the proper height at the table. Iri couldn't help but laugh at the poor hobbit's predicament.

"Frodo Baggins at your service and your family's."

Glóin smiled kindly at the flustered hobbit and he and Iri helped Frodo gather the scattered cushions and sit down.

"Ah! A Baggins! I assume from your name and your knowledge of that little adventure that you know dear Bilbo?"

"Yes, he's my uncle. He had taken me in after my parents had died when I was very young."

"So where is old Bilbo now? Hopefully not on any more adventures?"

"He's actually here in Rivendell. He told me that he would have liked to go on another adventure, to visit the Lonely Mountain again, but he is getting old and Elrond and Gandalf wouldn't let him. They also seemed to think the Enemy is after my dear uncle and would make mincemeat of him should they find him wandering around in the wilderness."

"That's a relief. It's best that way. Bilbo should stay in Rivendell, where he is safe."

Frodo looked at Glóin a searching look. "Why? What do you know?"

Glóin paused a moment before responding. "That is not conversation for tonight; maybe tomorrow I shall reveal what I know. But I am most curious what has possessed _four_ hobbits to leave their comfy hobbit-holes of the Shire. Not since Bilbo accompanied us to the Lonely Mountain has anything such as this happened."

Certain that he shouldn't mention anything concerning the Ring, Frodo avoided the subject. "That is probably best explained later as well. So how goes the reconstruction of your city?"

A long time ago, the dwarfs had a giant city atop the Lonely Mountain, where they prevailed in splendor. Unfortunately one day a dragon attacked, killing all those in his path. Though some dwarfs were able to escape, many died and the city was lost to the dragon's control. The dragon used the city as its stronghold and began hording treasure, mainly from the dwarfs but also from the men in the nearby community of Lakeside and the nearby elven kingdom of Mirkwood.

Many years later, Thorin Oakenshield, the son of the last ruler of the dwarf city, gathered a group of 12 dwarfs to try and reclaim the city and the treasure within. Superstitious of failure due to the unlucky number of dwarfs, they sought out one more companion. Under Gandalf's advice, they recruited Bilbo Baggins (much to Bilbo's distress).

After a long tale involving trolls, goblins (what hobbits call orcs), wargs (evil wolves), giant-eagles, elf dungeons, a human bow-man, and of course a dragon, the city was reclaimed and the dwarfs set to work to bring it back to its former splendor.

"Some of it is going very well, other things are not so good. Unfortunately due to the dragon's destruction much of our knowledge has been lost, and those who knew are now dead. Our metalwork is not as it used to be; we can still make keen swords and good armor, but it is no match to the quality of our forefathers. However in other things we have improved, in mining and building we have surpassed our forefather's skills. You should see the stone-paved roads, the sculpted columns, the cavernous halls! The waterways, the mountains, the pools! They are a beauty to behold."

Iri listened to everything with rapt attention. His family had been able to tell him a lot about elves and men (most notably about Rivendell and Rohan) but not so much about dwarfs.

Seeing Iri and Frodo giving him their utmost attention, Glóin paused.

"If you wish to hear more, I will gladly tell you. But stop me when you are weary! Dwarves' tongues run on when speaking about their handiwork, they say."

And with that Glóin embarked on a long account of the doings of the Dwarf-kingdom. He was delighted in finding two polite listeners who showed no sign at weariness and made no attempts to change the subject.¹

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Finally the feast came to an end. Iri feeling full and sleepy allowed Sirius to lead him away from Glóin, his son Gimli, and the hobbits.

"Go to bed Harry, you haven't been sleeping much this past week."

"I haven't been sleeping much because I was catching up with those I had thought were dead. And you've had as little sleep as I have, so if I'm going to bed, so are you."

Remus took this opportunity to butt in.

"That's actually a good idea, that way we won't be too tired to pay attention at the meeting tomorrow."

"But Harry's not going to the meeting. It concerns Middle-Earth affairs and Harry's only been here for 2 years; he doesn't know enough about the land and its people."

"Sirius, it's just a meeting. Harry's not going to disappear if you blink, and he's not going to be in any danger attending a meeting. And Elrond requested his presence there, so Iri goes."

Grumbling Sirius gave a stiff nod and wishing them a good night, headed towards his door.

Throwing one last glance at his godfather's retreating back, Iri turned to face Remus.

"So what is this meeting about anyway, and why am I invited?"

"Honestly, I don't know. I guess we'll just have to find out tomorrow."

And with that Remus went into his room and closed the door, leaving Iri out in the hall with his thoughts.

* * *

So the long awaited reunion is finally over and done with. Hopefully nobody was disappointed. 

Next chapter: The Council of Elrond.

¹ this section (including what they say) is basically word per word from the book in the chapter _Many Meetings_

Mae govannen is an elvish greeting


	12. The Council of Elrond

**A/N: At first I thought that this chapter would be very short since it's a relatively short scene in the movie. But as I was reading the book version, I realized that it wouldn't be so short. So what I thought would only take four pages, ended up taking twelve.**

**This chapter has many references to the events in _The Hobbit_, and the first part of the movie of _Fellowship of the Ring_, which I only skimmed over. Hopefully you guys are familiar with them, or else you might have some trouble understanding certain parts of this chapter.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

**_Rivendell, Eriador  
October 25, 3018 T.A._**

Iri sat down in between Frodo and Sirius. There were a lot of people at this meeting; all those originally from Earth (except for Fred and George), Lord Elrond, his chief advisor Erestor, Glorfindel, Bilbo, Frodo, Glóin, Gimli, Gandalf, Aragorn and many others that were at last night's feast who Iri didn't know by name.

The council began with news from other lands. Iri had heard rumours and murmurings of the rise of the Enemy, of orc attacks and darkness spreading. It was disturbing to hear the rumours confirmed by people from all over Arda.

Just then Glóin began to speak of the happenings at the Lonely Mountain.

"Even though we make much progress at Dale, our hearts are troubled. Long ago we dwarfs had a magnificent kingdom deep within the Misty Mountains, Khazad-dûm, which you might recognize by its name in the common tongue as Moria.

Moria! Too deep did we delve there, and woke the nameless fear! Long has its mansions lain empty since the children of Durin fled. But recently dwarfs began to once again speak of the forbidden place. Whispers of the riches we once ago mined for, the splendor of the old kingdom. Finally they declared that we have the numbers and the power to return.

My dear friend Balin resolved to go, and though Dáin, our king, was loathe to let him leave, he was still given permission. Balin left with Óin and Ori and many of our finest folk for the south to the mysterious caverns of Moria.

That was nigh on thirty years ago. At first we heard back from them quite often. It sounded as though Balin and the others were making good progress and we dared hope that we could reclaim Moria as a mighty kingdom. But then, the messages stopped coming.

Then not long ago, we received a message. But not from Moria; it was from Mordor. Lord Sauron the Great, so said the black robed messenger, wished for our friendship and alliance. He would give us the Rings of Power which he had made for the dwarves in the second age. In exchange, he asked us about hobbits, and where the land called the Shire was. For, the messenger explained, that Sauron knew that a hobbit was once known to us.

We were greatly troubled and gave no answer. Then the messenger continued 'As a small token for the Great Sauron's friendship, he asks only this; that you retrieve a small trinket that had been stolen from him as an earnest of your good will. It is only a trifle thing which Sauron fancies, a small gold ring. Find the thief and take it from him, willing or no. It's but a little ring, the least of all rings, and if you should retrieve it you shall receive the Dwarf rings of old and the realm of Moria shall be forever yours. Find only the thief and news as to whether he lives or not and where he dwells. Do you agree?'

Well Dáin answered 'I say neither yea nor nay, I shall need time to consider the offer.' The messenger warned us about taking too long in considering, and left.

Our hearts have been troubled and heavy since; we remembered Sauron's treachery from days of old, with the very same rings no less, and were won't to trust him. And we knew that the thief the messenger spoke of had to be our dear friend Bilbo!

So we were sent here in order to warn Bilbo that he is sought by the Enemy and to learn why Sauron is after this ring, least of all rings."

"It is good that you have come" Elrond responded "for here many questions shall be answered and the fate of the Free Peoples of Middle Earth will be decided.

First I shall speak of Sauron and the One Ring."

Elrond then described the happenings of the Second Age; the treachery of Sauron, the forging of the Rings of Power, the founding of Gondor and Arnor, and the final battle in the heart of Mordor.

He told of how Isildur refused to destroy the ring and how the ring betrayed Isildur to his death.

"Though the Ring is a powerful weapon to be sure," Galdor, an elf from the Grey Havens who had come for an errand from Cídan the Shipwright, interrupted. "what of Sauron himself? We have seen neither hide nor hair of him since the Ring was cut from his hand."

Gandalf stood up then. "I'm sure you all know the story of those among us from another realm. Over 400 years ago, five humans had somehow found themselves in Arda. For those of you who did not know, recently a sixth dimension traveler entered Arda and his story I think you'd like to hear."

So Iri was forced to tell the council of the happenings on Earth, and especially of Voldemort's 'advisor'.

"But that doesn't make sense; why would the strong and mighty Sauron obey the word of a lesser being? This Voldemort character is probably weaker than Saruman, so Sauron could have easily overthrown him." Erestor asked.

"Unless Sauron was not as powerful on Earth as he is here in Arda. Like the dimension travelers with us today, Sauron may have been altered in the other world. I draw my magic from Arda itself, so Earth may not have had the proper environment for Sauron to become a strong force. Or maybe he wasn't powerful enough without the Ring, which holds the majority of his ancient power. It could be any reason, but it would explain where the Dark Lord has been hiding all these years." Gandalf responded.

Glorfindel then inserted himself into the conversation. "But if Sauron only re-entered Arda 2 years ago, how had he been controlling his army? The Witchking had started building Barad-dûr long before Sauron reappeared, and I doubt that he would have acted without his master's orders."

It was Iri who answered. "I can't tell you much about Sauron; I avoided him as much as possible and he avoided everyone else as well. I didn't even learn his name until I entered Arda. Of what I know, he spent his time experimenting with magic, and with a sort of crystal ball."

"Crystal ball?" Gimli asked.

"Yes. In Earth, we have crystal balls that some people can use to see future events. Sauron's ball was similar but different. It was completely black; obsidian or marble or something similar. He seemed to use it much as you would a crystal ball; he hovered over it for hours seeming to look at something which only he could see, and would never let anyone else near it, not even Voldemort." Iri explained.

"A palantír."

Everyone except Gandalf, Aragorn and the elves at the council gave Elrond a questioning look.

"A palantír is an elvish seeing stone. Many were lost and unaccounted for. If Sauron managed to bring one with him, depending on who else had one, Sauron could have began rebuilding his armies and gathering his forces without actually being in Arda."

Everyone paused in thought about the raminafications of Sauron being able to operate for so long without anyone realizing it.

A tall broad shouldered, noble looking man then stood to say his piece.

"It is true that the Enemies forces are rebuilt. I am Boromir son of Denethor of the kingdom of Gondor. Few seem to know of our deeds in Gondor, and therefore know little of their peril should Gondor fall at last.

Long have our people fought the darkness of Mordor and kept your lands safe by the blood of our people. Long have we kept the wild folk of the east at bay and restrained the terror of Morgul by our valour.

And the hour of our doom may not be so far away. Little over 2 years ago black smoke rose once again from Orodruin, that which we call Mount Doom. The power of the Black Land grows and we are hard pressed to restrain it. This very year, in the days of June, sudden war came upon us out of Mordor and we were swept away. We were outnumbered, for Mordor has allied itself with the Easterlings and the cruel Haradrim; but it was not by numbers that we were defeated. A power was there that we have not felt before. It caused the greatest of men to flee in terror; the most experienced soldiers' blood to run ice cold.

Alas! Though we lost the eastern half of Osgiliath, the western shore was able to stay in Gondor's control by destroying the last stone bridge. Even now, the Enemy tries to advance further into our kingdom.

In this evil hour I have come on an errand over many dangerous leagues to Elrond: a hundred and ten days I have journeyed all alone. But I do not seek allies in war. The might of Elrond is in wisdom not in weapons, it is said. I come to ask for counsel and the unraveling of hard words. For on the eve of the sudden assault, a dream came to my brother in a troubled sleep. The next night the dream came to him again, and once to me.

In the dream I thought the eastern sky grew dark and there was a growing thunder, but in the west a pale light lingered, and out of it I heard a voice, remote but clear, crying:

_Seek for the Sword that was broken:  
In Imladris it dwells;  
There shall be counsels taken  
Stronger than Morgul-spells.  
There shall be shown a token  
That Doom is near at hand,  
For Isildur's Bane shall waken,  
And the Halfling forth shall stand._

Though my brother was eager to heed the dream and seek for Imladris, I took the journey upon myself since the way was full of doubt and danger."

"And here in the House of Elrond more shall be made clear to you." said Aragorn, rising to his feet. He cast his sword upon the table in the middle of the council, and the blade was broken in two pieces. "Here is the Sword that was Broken! The shards of Narsil which cut the Ring from Sauron's hand."

"And who are you, and what have you to do with Minas Tirith that you bear the remains of Narsil?" Boromir asked, staring at Aragorn and his weather-stained Ranger cloak in curiosity.

"He is Aragorn, son of Arathorn. He is chief of the Dúnedain and Isildur's heir. You owe him your allegiance." The blond elf that had sat next to Aragorn during last night's feast exclaimed in Aragorn's defense.

"Havo dad, Legolas" Aragorn said, gesturing the elf to sit down.

"This is Isildur's heir?" Boromir asked in stunned disbelief.

"And heir to the throne of Gondor." Legolas responded.

Boromir sat back down muttering. "Gondor has no king…Gondor needs no king."

Gandalf then bade Frodo to come forward. "Bring out the Ring Frodo!" Gandalf said solemnly. "Then Boromir will understand the remainder of his riddle."

Frodo hesitantly walked forward and placed the ring on the stone table admits the sudden hush of those present. He felt a great reluctance to part with it, and had the sudden urge to snatch it back and hide it away from the prying eyes. Frodo squashed the impulse and walked back to his seat.

"Behold, Isildur's Bane!" Elrond proclaimed.

Iri looked at the ring with narrowed eyes; he didn't like it. It had a darker aura than even Sauron himself; but then again Elrond had just finished explaining that it was made from Sauron pouring all his cruelty, malice and his will to dominate all life into it. All Iri knew was that he wouldn't touch it even if he were paid. Looking over at Sirius, he noticed his godfather's eyes fixed on the ring. Iri glared harder at the ring; he wouldn't let it hurt his loved ones, if it was the last thing he did.

Boromir's eyes glinted as he gazed at the Ring. "The Halfling," he muttered. "Isildur's Bane, you say? Indeed the halfling brought forth a bright ring, but Isildur perished at the dawn of this age. How do the Wise know that this ring is his? And how has it passed down the years, until it is brought hither by so strange a messenger?"

"That shall be told." said Elrond.

"But not yet, I beg Master Elrond!" exclaimed Bilbo. "Already the Sun is climbing to noon, and I feel the need of something to strengthen me."

"I have not named you," responded Elrond smiling. "But I do so now. Come! Tell us your tale. The briefer, the sooner shall you be refreshed."

So Bilbo told of his finding of the Ring deep within the dark tunnels of the Misty Mountains, of his encounter with Gollum (including each riddle) and the abilities of the ring. Bilbo would have told of his party and disappearance from the Shire, but Elrond raised his hand.

"Well told my friend," he said, "but that is enough at this time. For the moment it suffices to know that the Ring passed to Frodo, your heir. Let him now speak!"

Then, less willingly than Bilbo, Frodo told of all his dealings with the Ring from the day it passed into his keeping. Every step of his journey from Hobbiton to the Ford of Bruinen was questioned and considered, and everything that he could recall concerning the Black Riders was examined. At last he sat down again.

"Not bad," Iri overheard Bilbo, who was sitting on Frodo's other side, mutter to Frodo. "You would have made a good story of it, if they hadn't kept interrupting. I tried to make a few notes, but we shall have to go over it all again together some time, if I am to write it up. There are whole chapters of stuff before you ever got here!"

"Yes, it made quite a long tale," answered Frodo. "But the story still does not seem complete to me. I still want to know a good deal, especially about Gandalf."

Galdor of the Havens, with his keen elvish hearing, overheard him. "You speak for me also," he cried, and turning to Elrond he said "The Wise may have good reason to believe that the halfling's trove is indeed the Great Ring of long debate, unlikely though it may seem to those who know less. But may we not hear the proofs? And I would ask this also, what of Saruman? He is learned in the lore of the Rings, yet he is not among us. What is his counsel – if he knows the things that we have heard?"

"The questions that you ask, Galdor, are bound together." Elrond said, standing to address the council. "I have not overlooked them and they shall be answered. So now I finally call upon Gandalf to make these things clear."

"Some, Galdor," said Gandalf, "would think the tidings of Glóin, and the pursuit of Frodo, proof enough that the halfling's trove is a thing of great worth to the Enemy. Yet it is a ring. What then? The Nine the Nazgûl keep. The Seven are taken." At this Glóin stirred, but did not speak. "The Three we know of. What then is this one that he desires so much?

There is indeed a wide waste of time between the loss of the Ring by Isildur in the River, and the Mountain where Gollum kept it as his own. But the gap in the knowledge between the loss and the finding, the Wise have finally filled at last. Yet too slowly; for the Enemy had learned this same truth this past year, this very summer.

I had always had doubts about the hobbit's ring. Over time my doubt grew to fear. Whence came the hobbit's ring? What, if my fear was true, should be done with it?

Soon I became aware that spies of many sorts, even beasts and birds, were gathered round the Shire, and my fear grew. I called for the help of the Dúnedain, and their watch was doubled; and I opened my heart to Aragorn, the heir of Isildur."

"And I," said Aragorn, "counseled that we should hunt for Gollum, too late though it may seem. And since it seemed fit that Isildur's heir should labour to repair Isildur's fault, I went with Sirius on the long and hopeless search. After many months I had began to doubt ever finding any signs of the creature. Finally we came upon what we had sought; the marks of soft feet beside a muddy pool. We followed the trail which grew increasingly fresh until we had him."

"And the little bugger bit me!" Sirius interrupted, obviously reliving the unpleasant memory.

"Well, you were hardly gentle." Aragorn admonished.

"No matter, Gollum will never love me, and I sure as hell won't ever like him. I never got anything from his mouth other than the bite marks of his teeth. We had to watch him day and night, making him walk before us with a halter on his neck, gagged, until he was tamed by lack of drink and food, driving him towards Mirkwood. We brought him there at last and gave him to the Elves; something which we had agreed was to be done. I was glad to be rid of his company, since he stank. For my part I hope never to see him again: but Gandalf came and endured Gollum long enough to speak with him." Sirius continued.

"Yes, a long and weary conversation it was." Gandalf admitted. "But not without profit. For one thing, the tale he told of his loss agreed with Bilbo's tale. I also learned that Gollum's ring came out from the Great River nigh to the Gladden Fields. And I learned also that he had possessed it long. The power of the ring had lengthened his years far beyond their span; but that power only the Great Rings wield.

And if that is not proof enough, there is another test which I conducted. While Aragorn hunted down Gollum, I went to Gondor to find any records Isildur may have left about the Ring. I finally found what I had sought; a scroll written by Isildur describing the One Ring such as he found it:

_It was hot when I first took it, hot as a glede, and my hand was scorched, so that I doubt if ever again I shall be free of the pain of it. Yet even as I write it is cooled, and it seemeth to shrink, though it loseth neither its beauty nor its shape. Already the writing upon it, which at first was as clear as red flame, fadeth and is now only barely to be read. A secret now that only fire can tell. _

When I read these words, my quest was ended. At once I took my leave of Denethor, but even as I went northwards, messages came to me out of Lórien that Aragorn had found the creature Gollum. Therefore I went first to meet the creature Gollum and hear his tale, before returning to the Shire and see if the hobbit's ring was indeed the One.

Once in the Shire, I found the truth. For upon this very ring which you see, round and unadorned, the letters that Isildur reported may still be read, if one has the strength and will to set the golden thing in the fire a while. That I have done, and this I have read:

_Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,  
ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul._"

The change in the wizard's voice was astounding. It had suddenly become menacing, powerful and harsh as stone. A shadow seemed to pass over the high sun, and for a moment all grew dark. Iri shivered, feeling as though the evil in those words (even if he did not understand them) was something tangible, reaching out and spreading darkness.

"Never before has any voice dared to utter words of that tongue in Imladris, Gandalf the Grey." Said Elrond once the shadow passed and everyone was able to breath once more.

"And let us hope that none will ever speak it here again." answered Gandalf "Nonetheless I do not ask your pardon, Master Elrond. For the Black Speech of Mordor may yet be heard in every corner of the west!"

All sat silent for a while, until at length Boromir spoke. "He is a small thing you say, this Gollum? Small, but great in mischief. What became of him? To what doom did you put him?"

"He is in prison, but no worse." answered Aragorn "He had suffered much. There is no doubt that he was tormented, he longs for the Ring but the fear of Sauron lies black on his heart. Still I for one am glad that he is safely kept by the watchful Elves of Mirkwood. His malice is great and gives him a strength hardly to be believed in one so lean and withered. He could work much mischief still if he were free."

"Alas! Alas!" cried Legolas, and in his fair face there was great distress. "The tidings that I was sent to bring must now be told. They are not good, but only here have I learned how evil they may seem to this company. Sméogol, who is now called Gollum, has escaped."

"Escaped?" cried Sirius. "That's not good. He's a nasty little menace, and could cause a lot of problems."

"He escaped not through lack of watchfulness," explained Legolas, "but perhaps through over-kindliness. And we fear that the prisoner had aid from others, and more is known of our doings than we would wish. We guarded this creature day and night, at Gandalf's bidding, much though we wearied of the task. But Gandalf bade us hope still for his cure, and we had not the heart to keep him ever in dungeons under the earth, where he would fall back into his old black thoughts."

"You were less tender to me." Said Glóin, with a flash of his eyes, as old memories were stirred of his imprisonment in the deep places of the Elven-king's halls.

"Now come!" said Gandalf. "Pray do not interrupt, my good Glóin. That was a regrettable misunderstanding, long set right. If all the grievances that stand between Elves and Dwarves are to be brought up here, we may as well abandon this Council."

Glóin rose and bowed, and Legolas continued. "In the days of fair weather, we led Gollum through the woods; and there was a high tree standing alone far from the others which he liked to climb. Often we let him mount up to the highest branches, until he felt the free wind; but we set a guard at the tree's foot. One day he refused to come down, and the guards had no mind to climb after him: he had learned the trick of clinging to boughs with his feet as well with his hands; so they sat by the tree far into the night.

It was that moonless and starless night in spring that Orcs came on us at unawares. We drove them off after some time; they were many and fierce, but they came from over the mountains, and were unused to the woods. When the battle was over, we found that Gollum was gone and his guards were slain or taken. It then seemed plain to us that the attack had been made for his rescue, and that he knew of it beforehand. How that was contrived we cannot guess; but Gollum is cunning, and the spies of the Enemy are many. Though we have tried to recapture him, he escaped our skill. We came upon his trail among those of the Orcs, and it plunged deep into the Forest going south. As it led towards Dol Guldur, we dared not continue the hunt, for that is still a very evil place even if the Witchking no longer rules from it."

"It was the Enemy who had taken Gollum," Gandalf said "and from him, Sauron learned the whereabouts of his Ring, sending the Black Riders to the Shire. But how did I know this? And what of Saruman? I shall now endeavor to answer both questions, for they are both related.

After I had learned that Frodo's ring was indeed the One, I headed to Isengard to hear any advice Saruman was able to give. Unfortunately, it was advice I was unwilling to heed. He bid me to join with the Enemy. When I refused he imprisoned me at the top of Orthanc, with no hope of escape.

However, I was able to learn some of Saruman's treacheries; he was in contact with Sauron using a palantír. Considering Iri's tale, Saruman may have been a servant of Sauron for a great many years before today.

Saruman was also building an army. He has crossed Orcs with Men, creating a new race that is immune to sunlight and can travel great distances with speed. And Isengard, which was once green and fair, is now filled with pits and forges.

I was able to send a message to Gwaihir the Windlord, swiftest of the Great Eagles, who bore me away from that accursed place. I asked him to bear me to Rohan, where I could find a worthy steed to bring forth to Rivendell in all haste.

But I soon found out that evil was already at work in Rohan."

Remus then stood to speak. "If I may speak of the dealings of Rohan, since it was from there I that I had come for counsel."

Remus then explained the sudden illness of the king, the king's distrust towards everyone but Gríma, his advisor, and how orcs ran unchallenged across the plains.

When he was done, Gandalf spoke once again. "Well, the Tale is now told, from first to last. Here we all are, and here is the Ring. But we have not yet come any nearer to our purpose. What shall we do with it?"

Boromir spoke first. "It is a gift. A gift to the foes of Mordor! Why not use this Ring? Give Gondor the weapon of the Enemy; let us use it against him!"

"We can not wield it!" Aragorn protested. "None of us can. The one ring answers to Sauron alone. It has no other master."

Galdor then spoke up. "We must keep it away from the Enemy. The places of greatest power are here in Imladris, with Círdan at the Havens, or in Lórien. But have they the strength, have we here the strength, to with-stand the Enemy, the coming of Sauron at last, when all else is overthrown?"

"I have not the strength," said Elrond, "neither have they."

Glóin spoke. "What of the Elves' Three Rings? Can they not be used against the Enemy in our time of need?"

"The Three were not made, nor were they tainted by the touch of Sauron." Elrond explained. "They however, are not idle. They were not made as weapons of war or conquest; that is not their power. Those who made them did not desire strength or domination or hoarded wealth, but understanding, making, and healing, to preserve all things unstained. The Three help keep the Enemy from Rivendell's and Lórien's borders, but they can be of no use against the One."

"Then if the Ring cannot be kept from him forever by strength," said Glorfindel, "then there is only one remaining choice for us to attempt: we must to destroy it."

"But what then would happen, if the Ruling Ring were destroyed, as you counsel?" asked Glóin.

"As you know, most of Sauron's power is contained within the Ring." Gandalf said. "With the Ring destroyed, not only would Sauron be extremely disadvantaged, but many of the things under Sauron's command would be destroyed, such as the Nazgûl. The foundation of the tower Barad-dûr also was made with the Ring's power – if the Ring was destroyed Barad-dûr would fall. And many of Sauron's allies may desert him without the chance of Sauron obtaining the added strength and power that the Ring would provide."

"But what of Sauron himself? You have said that without the Ring he would be severely disadvantaged – but wouldn't he be defeated?" Sirius asked.

"Before hearing Iri's tale, I would have answered yes. Sauron is an immortal, and though the destruction of the Ring wouldn't have killed him, it would have ensured that he would no longer be a threat to the Free People's of middle earth, so limited would his power become. But now that he has gained a body, without needing the power of the ring to sustain it, I do not know for sure. It is probable that even after destroying the Ring, that Sauron's physical form must also be destroyed. Either way, the Ring must be destroyed if we have any hope to defeat the Enemy."

After a long pause, Gimli stood. "Well, what are we waiting for?" And with those words he ran forward and swung his mighty axe down upon the Ring. But the axe shattered with a deafening crack, making Gimli fall back from the force. The Ring however, remained unharmed.

"The Ring cannot be destroyed, Gimli son of Glóin, by any craft that we here possess." Elrond explained. "The Ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom, and only there can it be unmade. It must be taken deep into Mordor, and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came. One of you must do this."

A great silence followed that announcement, everyone overcome with a feeling of dread.

Boromir then spoke. "One does not simply walk into Mordor. Its black gates are guarded by more than just Orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep. It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire and ash and dust. The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten thousand men could you do this. It is folly."

Annoyed with Boromir's attitude (especially concerning his 'nephew'), Sirius intervened. "Didn't you hear anything Lord Elrond said? The Ring must be destroyed!"

"And do you suppose you're the one to do it? Men's hearts are easily corrupted and bent to the will of the Ring!" an elf whom Iri did not know the name of spoke.

"Better a man than an elf!" Gimli retorted.

"And if we fail? What then? What happens when Sauron takes back what is his?" Boromir interjected.

"Do you not understand? While we bicker among ourselves, Sauron's power grows! No one will escape it. You will all be destroyed, your homes burnt and your families put to the sword!" Gandalf yelled, trying to end the arguments.

It seemed that the whole Council was on its feet, yelling at the top of their voices. Iri looked around in bemusement. Not two minutes ago, he was surrounded by wise and noble beings, now he felt as though he was surrounded by children. What could have caused such a dramatic change?

And then he realized. The Ring. Iri glared at it some more, trying to figure out how it could be affecting those around it. Sure enough, what felt like subtle legilimency was affecting the others, who seemed oblivious to it. After over 400 years in Voldemort's clutches, Iri had managed to constantly have his occlumency barriers up 24/7, even when he was at his weakest.

Iri then noticed that he wasn't the only one still in his seat; Frodo was as well, and seemed to be staring at the Ring intently. Frodo suddenly stood. "I will take it! I will take it!"

Iri watched in stunned silence as Frodo's announcement seemed to break up the arguments among the others.

"I will take the Ring to Mordor…but I do not know the way."

Gandalf made his way over to the young hobbit. "I will help you bear this burden, Frodo Baggins, as long as it is yours to bear."

"If, by my life or death, I can protect you, I will." Aragorn spoke, coming forward to kneel before Frodo. "You have my sword."

"And my bow." Legolas stated.

"And my axe." Gimli added.

Boromir then came forward, looking around at the faces of the council, and then turned back towards Frodo. "You carry the fate of us all little one. If this is indeed the will of the council, then Gondor will see it done."

"Hey!" yelled Sam, coming out of his hiding spot behind a bush. "Mr. Frodo's not going anywhere without me!"

"No, indeed," Elrond commented, "as it is hardly possible to separate you, even when he is summoned to a secret council and you are not."

Then Merry and Pippin suddenly appeared, running up to join Sam beside Frodo.

"Oi! We're coming too! You'll have to send us home tied up in a sac to stop us!" Merry said.

"Anyway," Pippin added, "you need people of intelligence on this sort of mission…quest…thing."

"Well, that rules you out Pip." Merry commented.

Before the idea of volunteering himself to Frodo was half-formed, Iri felt a restraining hand on his shoulder. Sirius shook his head silently at Iri, letting him know silently that Iri shouldn't go. Before Iri could retort, Elrond spoke once again.

"Nine companions…so be it. You shall be the Fellowship of the Ring."

"Great." Pippin remarked. "Where are we going?"

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¹ almost this whole chapter is word per word from the book (mostly the speeches), the chapter The Council of Elrond and/or the council scene in the movie. Some things were summarized from either/or and some I added in myself. It was pretty hard to get it all to flow together; but I think it worked out alright.

So, there is no Eye of Sauron, since Sauron is stuck in a physical form. But he could still send spies and whatnot to find out what everyone is up to.

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	13. The Journey Begins

**A/N: Anyone interested in being a beta for me, let me know.**

**Thanks for all those who took the time to leave a review.  
**

**Enjoy.**

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**_Rivendell, Eriador  
December 28, 3018 T.A._**

Iri raised his sword to block Fred's blade, while sidestepping to the left to avoid Elrohir. Elladan then moved to contend with his twin, while Iri focused on Fred. Time held no meaning as Iri concentrated on the sword fight; lunging, dodging, thrusting and parrying. Suddenly George, who was acting as a sort of referee broke up the skirmish. "Iri, Sirius wants to talk to you."

Iri wiped the sweat from his brow, and shook hands with the twins for the good fight. In the 2 months that Iri had been in Rivendell, he had tried to learn as much as possible about how to defend himself (especially since his magic was so limited now). Though Iri was a natural with a bow and arrow (even beating the majority of the elves), and quite capable with daggers, his sword work left much to be desired. Even though elvish swords were far lighter and graceful than human swords, they were still quite big and heavy compared to Iri's small frame. And though Iri could use magic to lighten the sword so that it weighed next to nothing, he'd rather be able to fight without being dependant on his magic.

The green-eyed man sheathed his sword and made his way to his godfather as the twins renewed their duel, George filling in for Iri's spot. A lot has happened in the past two months, including his renewed relationships with those from Earth. At first their conversations were awkward and clumsy; they all had known each other very well, and after 450 years apart, it was sort of uncomfortable; no one knew what to do or say. (A/N: I don't know about you guys, but I find it more awkward speaking to someone who was my best friend in grade school than a complete stranger, just because we _used_ to know each other so well). But now everything was much better; their relationships were well on their way to becoming even stronger than they had been on Earth. That's not to say that they were perfect or anything. Sirius was still getting used to calling Harry Iri, and was obviously restraining himself with much difficulty from smothering Iri, trying to allow his godson to come and talk to him in his own time.

"You wanted to see me?" Iri asked his godfather.

"Yes. I just wanted to see how you were doing, and hang out a bit. We haven't been able to see each other that much all things considered."

Sirius was right, but Iri also knew that Sirius just wanted to distract him from the fact that he hadn't been allowed to go with the fellowship. After the council Iri had been upset that Sirius had prevented him from joining, but then common sense kicked in. He may have been a considerable foe on Earth, but here he was not. He was in a new world where nothing was be familiar (therefore putting him at a disadvantage towards any enemies including those of an unfamiliar race, or when fighting in an unknown terrain), his magic was severely curtailed, and he didn't know how to fight without it (the Dursley's would hardly sign him up for any self-defense classes, wizards didn't bother teaching anything that didn't have to do with magic, and he didn't have the time to learn before he had been captured by Voldemort). All in all, Iri would have been more of a liability than an aid to the fellowship. Well, at first at any rate.

And though Sam, Marry and Pippin would be a greater liability, Iri understood the council's reasoning for allowing them to go. As Gandalf said, he'd trust in their friendship with Frodo over the wisdom and power any elf-lord that could take their place in the fellowship would offer instead. Iri himself could swear to the benefits of having your friends by your side, even if they (and yourself) were only untrained children.

"Don't be disappointed kiddo. You know that they could've only had a certain amount of people in the fellowship. The whole mission is dependant on speed and secrecy; something they wouldn't be able to achieve with too many companions." Sirius said, trying to cheer Iri up.

"That's rich coming from you. If you hadn't already promised Aragorn that you'd stay and lead the Rangers, you'd have volunteered yourself to the mission so fast my head would have spun." Iri rebutted.

Sirius blushed a little, unable to deny the accusation. It didn't help that weeks afterwards Sirius had still been complaining about the way his 'nephew' had hoodwinked him into agreeing to lead the rangers (just incase Aragorn stayed in Rivendell to be with Arwen for a while) before the council. Sirius accused Aragorn of knowing that a mission would have been appointed in the council and making sure that he would have been unable to go. Considering Aragorn's weak denials, Iri thought that his godfather might just be right.

"Look, I know that at first it wouldn't have been a good idea to go with them. But they had only left three days ago! In the past two months I've learned so much, and am more than capable of fending for myself and helping the fellowship. I've spent 2 years in the wild, and can easily hunt and move swiftly and silently, I can heal just about anything, and am not terrible with weapons. Better than the hobbits at any rate. I could have been useful." Iri stated.

The reason that the fellowship had only left 3 days ago was because of Lord Elrond's cautiousness. Since Frodo's mission was dependant on secrecy, the fellowship didn't dare leave Rivendell until scouts (mainly Aragorn, his rangers, a couple of elves (including Glorfindel) Sirius, and both sets of twins) searched the area for any sign of the enemy (the ringwraiths in particular). It would be no good if the mission was discovered, and therefore thwarted, before it had a chance to truly begin.

The scouts were able to find out that the Nazgûl horses had all died in the flood, and the ringwraiths themselves had lost their forms. They had been forced to journey to Mordor on foot so that their Master could restore them and give them new steeds. This was good news for everyone since it meant that the fellowship would not encounter the wraiths for quite some time.

Unfortunately, by the time the scouts returned and everything was ready to go for the journey, 2 months had passed and winter was upon them. The fellowship was forced to leave anyway, not having the luxury of time to wait until spring to set out.

Sirius tried to make Iri see that his staying behind was for the best. "I know that you're frustrated; you're a fighter and are used to doing whatever it takes to see to the safety of others. But this isn't your fight, and you're going to have to let others take care of this problem. You're still new to this world and you still have much to learn. And you shouldn't have to be worrying about dark overlords anyway - you've dealt with enough to last for the rest of your life. You need to learn how to just live – your whole life you've only known how to fight and survive. It's time for you to let go of responsibilities and learn how to fully relax, how to play, and fall in love. I just want what's best for you Ha –…Iri."

Iri felt the fight leave him at Sirius heartfelt words. "I know Sirius, but don't you understand that I still need to do something? If Sauron wins, you and everyone else might die – and I couldn't live through your deaths a second time. I need to be out fighting, it's who I am and it's what I believe and feel is right. I can help them Sirius…I need to help them."

Sirius didn't respond to Iri's words except to pull him in for a hug. They sat in comfortable silence for a long time, happily soaking in each other's presence while their minds drifted to a small hobbit and the burden he carried.

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Iri readjusted the bag (which was fashioned like a backpack) he had on his back and continued trekking through the woods of Trollshaw. On his person he carried an elven sword, a bow and a quiver of arrows and two daggers. The bag contained a few canteens of water, some food that would last for a very long time, some winter clothes and a few other useful things. Iri felt a bit bad for leaving, but this was something that he had to do. No way was he going to let others fight for the good of the world while he idly sat on his ass doing nothing. It just wasn't in him.

Ever since Iri learned that the fellowship wasn't leaving right away, he had tried his hardest to learn everything he could so he could join with the fellowship as well. But knowing that most still hadn't wanted him to go, Iri pretended to be upset but resigned to his fate. In secret though, he had been sneaking and storing food and equipment for the journey. It helped that he had aided the others of the fellowship pack, so he knew what to bring.

Iri waited an extra three days after the fellowship left to throw off any suspicions. He knew that those from earth would realize that he'd probably sneak out (hence him being watched around the clock on the 25th), and therefore decided to wait a bit until his security (a.k.a. Sirius) was a bit more lax.

Iri didn't think it would be too hard to catch up despite the fellowship's three day head-start – even if he wasn't as good at tracking as Aragorn (who was a ranger), Remus (due to his canine animagus form) and Sirius (who was both a ranger and had a canine animagus form), Iri was still quite good. He had spent two years in the wild, learning to track and catch food and avoid orcs and other beings. And when he had been a captive on Earth, whenever he had been able to escape for a brief period, he had always had to meet up with unfamiliar people at unfamiliar places to help the resistance. All that combined with the fact that the company consisted of four hobbits – who were both unused to traveling for long distances, and had small short legs (and therefore would considerably slow the fellowship down) – Iri was confident in being able to find them, it was only a matter of time.

He only hoped that those back at Rivendell wouldn't be too worried or upset. He had left a letter for the twins and Sirius (Remus and Tonks had left to return to Rohan a couple of weeks ago); hopefully they wouldn't try – or succeed – in dragging him back.

Pushing those thoughts to the side, Iri continued on his way towards the fellowship, more determined than ever in his quest.

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I was originally going to have a longer chapter with some outtakes with Iri getting closer with everyone during the two month delay, but I couldn't find anything good to write. shrugs. It's a short chapter, but the next one should be longer. 


	14. The More The Merrier

**A/N: Thanks for all those that reviewed.**

**Enjoy.**

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_**Eriador**_  
**_January 5, 3018 T.A._**

Iri was exhausted. Over a week of non-stop traveling, and he had yet to see hide nor hair of the fellowship. The good news was that the tracks were becoming progressively fresher. Iri thought that he was now only a few hours behind them.

He continued on, and by late afternoon had caught sight of them. Iri was thankful for his much improved eyesight which would allow him to observe from a safe distance.

If he had been a bit more alert and well rested, Iri would have realized that as the day wore on, he was beginning to become sloppier; allowing a certain blond-haired elf to catch glimpses of him several times that evening. But the truth was that in order to catch up to the fellowship Iri had been resting for only a few short hours per day before heading out again. And the past day he hadn't slept at all, so excited was he to finally catch up to his quarry.

By the time morning came, Iri was ready to drop from exhaustion. And he became a bit more aware of his brash decision. Just because he had caught up with the fellowship didn't mean that he was going to be welcomed into the company. And just how was he going to make his presence known? He couldn't just approach them and say "Guess who!". In fact, it was more than likely that if he tried to approach them, he'd be struck down, thought to be an orc or a spy of Sauron in the distance.

Mentally berating himself for acting so foolishly, Iri decided to sleep. The fellowship was just ahead, so he had no fear of losing them, and hopefully he'd get an idea of what to do once he was fully rested.

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**_January 6, 3018 T.A._**

Frodo wearily trudged onward behind Gimli. It had been 12 days since leaving Rivendell and Frodo felt as if he'd never been so tired. A typical day involved endless walking and stumbling until about midday, when the company would find a cave, or thick bushes to hide beneath, to use as shelter and rest. In the late afternoon they would be awoken by whoever was on guard-duty to have the main meal – which was usually cold and bland, since no one wanted to risk lighting a fire and attracting the attention of any of Sauron's servants. Then they would set out again and the cycle would continue.

Despite the fact that all they ever did was travel, it seemed to the hobbits that they were gaining no ground and were going nowhere. The scenery all looked the same and the pace was very slow. The only condolence was that the distant mountains seemed to be gradually becoming larger – unless it was just wishful thinking on the hobbits' part.

"We'll make camp here for today." Gandalf, who was leading with Aragorn (being the only two people who had any knowledge of the area) stated.

Merry and Pippin slumped to the ground in relief. They barely took the time to arrange themselves more comfortably in the grove they were using as shelter before drifting off to sleep. Sam wasn't far behind them. Frodo although weary, wasn't quite ready to succumb to slumber. He felt kind of bad for putting his friends through this hardship; they were unaccustomed to traveling or dealing with perilous situations. That wasn't to say that Frodo was, but at least he had had a better idea as to what he was getting into (thanks to Bilbo) than the others.

Frodo lied down and let his mind drift to Bilbo - his dear uncle whom Frodo didn't think he'd ever see again after his abrupt departure during the party last year. He had spent much of the two months at Rivendell in the elder hobbit's presence; telling stories, talking, and helping Bilbo with his book. Bilbo had even convinced Frodo to write down his own adventures up to Rivendell, and bade him to finish it once the quest was finished. If it was ever finished.

Frodo frowned at that depressing thought and pushed it out of his mind. Now was not the time to be downcast. Not when the journey had just begun and they had come across no enemies. And if any orcs did approach, Frodo would know, thanks to Sting.

As a parting gift, Bilbo gave Frodo two things which he had attained in his adventure with the dwarves. The first was an elvish dagger – Sting. Whenever orcs where around, the blade glowed blue. The second gift was a mithril shirt of mail, which was very light yet would protect Frodo from the hardest and sharpest of blades. Though everyone knew that Frodo bore Sting, Bilbo requested that Frodo keep the dwarf-mail a secret; so none knew what lay hidden beneath Frodo's clothes.

Frodo then let his mind wander to Iri, another person that Frodo had spent a lot of time with at Rivendell. Since he hadn't been allowed to come with them, the green-eyed man insisted on helping them as much as he could before they left. He had helped them pack and insisted that the hobbits take lessons with him from his family on how to fight. Iri was also working on a way to lessen the influence that the ring had (or would have) on Frodo.

It basically entailed that Frodo calms himself, breaths deeply, and let his mind relax and become empty. Frodo didn't know how well it worked (though he did feel less motivated to check on the ring every now and then to see if he still had it and didn't drop it somewhere), but he did know that it always helped him sleep easier, more deeply and with no dreams.

Speaking of sleep, Frodo decided to make the most of the fellowship's stop. He got into a comfortable position and started clearing his mind, falling asleep in a matter of minutes.

But not all of the fellowship's members were planning to rest right away. Legolas who, having the keenest eyes within the company, was acting as the rear guard while traveling, made his way towards Aragorn about something he had seen.

"There is something following us. I do not know for how long – it moves swiftly and silently and ensures that it stays far enough away to be out of sight. I had felt eyes on us since yesterday morn, but have yet to see it until late in the night." Legolas told his friend.

Aragorn looked thoughtful for a while. "Come, let us go see who it is and whether they are friend or foe." Aragorn decided.

"What of the others?" Legolas asked.

"We shall leave them to rest under Gandalf's watch. They need their rest, and if there is only one, he will not be that much of a threat." Aragorn responded.

After a whispered conversation with Gandalf, Aragorn and Legolas silently made their way towards the place that Legolas last saw the unknown follower, weapons at the ready in case of an enemy. After a few hours march, they came across an unexpected sight.

They would have missed it entirely if it were not for Aragorn's knowledge of the land and skills of a ranger, and Legolas' keen eyes. There, in a small grove in the ground covered by bushes, was a slumbering figure. A very familiar slumbering figure.

Aragorn lowered his weapons and sighed wearily. After hearing all those stories about him, and spending so much time with him in Rivendell, the ranger felt as though he should have expected this. Aragorn wondered how long Iri had tracked them for, since he was obviously exhausted if he and Legolas were able to sneak up on the dark haired man. Aragorn knew from experience that Iri's life had made him a very light sleeper, ready to defend and attack at a moment's notice.

Legolas, who didn't know Iri that well, let out a string of curses at seeing that the human had followed them here. No later than after Legolas let out the first curse, than did Iri jump up and draw out a pair of daggers defensively. After a moment in which Iri's brain caught up to the situation he found himself in, he lowered his blades and smiled sheepishly at the two warriors, at a loss for words.

"Hello Iri. Fancy seeing you out here. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem to be very far from Rivendell, which is where I believe you are supposed to be. Let me guess, you told no one about your little trip?" Aragorn asked.

"Well, they'd know about it by now..." Iri responded.

Looking over at his elvish friend, who seemed to be trying his hardest not to start yelling, and therefore attract the attention of any nearby enemies, Aragorn decided to handle the situation.

"Come Iri, we are going back to the others."

It was a silent trip back. Aragorn was torn between joy and frustration about Iri's presence. Legolas was still silently fuming, though his anger seemed to be lessening with time. And Iri's face was an unreadable mask; he was just silently carrying his bag, trailing in the back behind the ranger and elf.

By the time the three reached camp, everyone was awake and eating. Upon seeing Iri, there was a moment of stunned silence as everyone stared at the green-eyed man.

"Umm…hi?"

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_**January 9, 3018 T.A.**_

Iri watched as Boromir worked with Merry and Pippin, teaching them how to swordfight, using their daggers. Aragorn was occasionally giving pointers to the hobbits while smoking a pipe.

It was now a few days after Iri had become an unofficial member of the fellowship and things were much smoother between him and the other members, of whom not everyone had been thrilled to see him (to put it lightly). The hobbits had of course been thrilled and grateful for his sudden appearance. Aragorn, Gandalf and Gimli had been both upset that he had come (fearing for his safety and lack of skills with fighting with weapons), happy for his company since they had become friends at Rivendell (especially with Aragorn), but mainly resigned to his presence. Boromir and Legolas, whom Iri also knew the least, had been displeased and felt that he would only be a hindrance and liability to the company. It was only after hours of reasoning (i.e. arguing) that Iri was allowed to continue on with them. Mainly because going back on his own (if he could even be trusted to actually return on his own to Rivendell) would be too dangerous and might alert spies that something was happening.

Suddenly in the mock fight, one of Boromir's attacks nicked Pippin's finger. Pippin dropped the dagger in shock and cradled his wounded hand.

"Sorry!" Boromir said, dropping his weapon and approaching the hobbit to see how bad the damage was. Pippin took that opportunity to kick the Gondorian in the shins, while Merry swung at Boromir's legs with the flat of his blade. Boromirs stumbled and fell from the unexpected attacks and the hobbits yelled out a war cry and jumped on him.

Aragorn let the hobbits enjoy there victory for a few moments before he decided to interfere and help the other human out (since Boromir was only half-heartedly fighting back against the hobbits, both enjoying their amusement and afraid of hurting them). But when the ranger tried to pry the hobbits off the Gondorian, they each grabbed a leg and yanked, making Aragorn land flat on his back. Iri, Frodo and Sam continued to cheer on as the two humans teamed up against the hobbits to deal with them once and for all.

Unfortunately their fun was cut short as everyone came to notice a growing dark shape in the south, it looked like smoke and was gradually becoming larger and closer.

"What is that Strider?" Sam asked.

"It's nothing," Gimli responded, dismissing the fellowship's unease "it's just a wisp of cloud."

Boromir straightened and squinted to better see the steadily approaching dark mass. "It's moving fast. Against the wind."

Legolas was finally able to discern and identify the individual shapes which formed the throng of darkness. "Crebains from Dunland!"

"Quick! Hide!"

Everyone rushed to put out the fire and gather and hide all their equipment and themselves before the crow-like birds caught sight of them. They remained still and silent in their respective hiding places as the birds soared, circled and dived overhead searching for anything they could report back to their master. Finally after what felt like an eternity, they flew off.

The fellowship waited longer to be sure that the threat was gone before emerging from their hiding spots. They continued their journey towards the pass of Caradhras slowly and cautiously since dark forms were commonly swooping around to spy on the landscape. A few days of travel later brought the company to the base of the mountain.

"The weather gets colder as winter continues, the peaks are getting even snowier and more dangerous to navigate, the road is narrow and open to attack, and we will undoubtedly be seen by spies. We should not take this path." Boromir stated, trying one more time to convince the fellowship to take the Great South Road to the Gap of Rohan.

Gandalf sighed from the old argument. "We cannot take that road as you well know – we have already been sighted by the crebains and the Gap of Rohan will be even more heavily guarded. When you came north to Rivendell using that road, you were but one man of no importance to the Enemy, which is why you encountered no danger. But now you travel with the Ring's company and it is no longer safe going back using the same route. Both Sauron and Saruman watch the road and it passes too close to Isengard for us to travel by it and remain unscathed. And as for Moria," Gandalf continued, interrupting Gimli before the dwarf could put in his two cents, "I would only take the road through Moria if I had no other choice." With that note of finality, the fellowship let the matter rest as they prepared for their trek up the mountain.

Boromir, resigned to the fellowship's current course decided to at least make sure that their route would be traveled as safely and comfortably as possible. "I grew up under the shadow of the White Mountain and have some experience with the high places of the world. We shall meet bitter cold, if no worse, before we come down on the other side. Pack as much dry wood as you can carry for fire – it would do us no good to keep our position hidden if we are frozen to death because of it."

The company spent the next hour gathering wood and bundling in the warm clothes that Bill had been carrying in packs up until now. Once everyone was ready they began their slow ascent.

Though they made good speed at first, it wasn't long before the road became narrow, steep and twisty. There were many parts where the road had faded to nothing, or that it was blocked from fallen stones and boulders. The solid clouds made everything dark and gloomy, and the bitter wind seemed to surround the company and crawl over their skin, despite how thick their clothing was. And as time wore on, it began to snow – lightly at first and then becoming so heavy that you couldn't even see two feet in front of you. Even Gimli, as stout a dwarf as any you could meet, was grumbling by the time the fellowship had decided to make camp long after nightfall.

The hobbits huddled together behind Bill for whatever minimal protection he could offer, trying to ignore their leaden and frozen feet buried in the ankle-deep snow. The others tried to build and light a fire, realizing that in this snow-storm that not only was it unlikely that any fire would be spotted through the thick snowfall, but they may be frozen to death if they don't find some warmth in the night. Unfortunately, each time someone tried to make a fire, the flames would last only a moment before sputtering and dying due to the strong wind, heavy snowfall and increasingly damp wood. Iri was able to control the fire enough so that it wouldn't sputter and die, be he knew that it was only a matter of time before he became too tired to keep it up. Finally Gandalf decided to forgo caution and added his own brand of magic to keep the fire going merrily for the rest of the night, much to the company's pleasure.

"Well there is no use worrying about spies now," Gandalf stated after making sure that the fire would last the night "I may have well written a giant sign that reads '_Gandalf is here_' which can be read from Rivendell to the mouths of Anduin." But the rest of the fellowship no longer cared if their position was now given to the Enemy thanks to Gandalf's magic – they now had a warm fire to rest beside and that was all that mattered.

The next morning the fellowship set out again, but thankfully the snowstorm seemed to have ended for the moment, though dark clouds still loomed overhead promising another storm to come. By late afternoon the company had made good progress and despite their numb and exhausted bodies continued onward. It was during a climb along a straight and wide portion of the path that Frodo slipped and tumbled a few meters back down the incline, where Aragorn who was bringing up the rear, was able to catch hold of him and prevent him from falling even further down the path. Frodo stood up, feeling a little dizzy but mainly alright. While checking to see if everything in order, Frodo noticed that the Ring which he always wore on a chain around his neck was no longer there.

The hobbit tried to push down his rising panic (and the reasons as to why he felt so panicked and bereft without the Ring's solid presence against his skin) and desperately looked around to see where it had fallen to. It wasn't long before he noticed that Boromir's attention was fixed on something in the snow further up the path were he had originally fallen. It took even less time to realize that the object Boromir was so captivated by was the Ring.

The heir to the Steward of Gondor held up the Ring by the fine chain that looped through it, transfixed by the way the light gleamed and reflected off of it, making the powerful and perilous object seem innocent and inviting. "It's a strange fate to suffer so much fear and doubt for so small a thing….such a little thing…." Boromir mumbled, completely oblivious to the world around him and the ranger trying to gain his attention. Still involved in his little world where all that existed was himself and the Ring, Boromir began to subconsciously reach out towards the Ring itself.

"Boromir!"

Aragorn's shout brought the Gondorian back to earth so abruptly that Boromir's grasping hand missed the Ring entirely and he stumbled a little.

"Give the Ring to Frodo." Aragorn instructed, noticing that Boromir was once again aware of his surroundings. But even though the ranger's words may have seemed like a request, no one failed to miss the fact that it was in fact an order; an order that promised swift retribution if it was not carried out.

Boromir took a moment to further center himself and then slowly made his way towards the young hobbit. With more reluctance than he thought he'd have, the Gondorian captain handed out the Ring which Frodo took no time snatching back. Boromir tried to push away his unease – both about his reluctance of being separated by the Ring and the sudden resentfulness it caused towards the hobbit bearing it. Not to mention his concern about the fact that he, the best warrior of Gondor, was so transfixed by a small piece of jewelry that he had been completely oblivious to his surroundings. Trying to get rid of his unbalanced feelings and convince the others (as well as himself) that no harm was done and everything was fine, he tousled Frodo's hair and turned his back to the Ring and its bearer, continuing his way up the mountain and pretending as if nothing had happened.

Had he turned back, he would have seen Aragorn's hand relaxing from the hilt of his sword.

It was the next morning that the impending storm hit; no one could see a foot in front of them and the wind howled and tore at them mercilessly. Gandalf led the way along the narrow path, forging a trench through the hip-deep snow using his body and his staff. Legolas was the envy of the rest of the company as he walked upon the snow as easily as if it were paved road, leaving no footprints and seemingly unperturbed by the wind, snow and freezing temperature. While Iri could just as easily walk on the snow leaving no marks, the weather and temperature affected him as much as the others, and therefore he opted to join them in the trench to soak up as much warmth and protection the trench walls and the others' body-heat would grant him instead of traveling beside or in front of the others with the blond elf.

Among the howling wind the Mirkwood elf noticed a foreign voice – one that spoke with ill intentions. "There is a foul voice in the air!" he notified the others.

It wasn't long before the voice gained in strength and volume, enough so the others' were able to hear it and Gandalf recognized it. "It's Saruman!"

No sooner did Gandalf exclaim the perpetrator than a large bolt of lightning hit the mountain above them, making a small avalanche of snow and rock rain down upon the fellowship.

"He's trying to bring down the mountain! Gandalf, we must turn back!" Aragorn yelled, hoping to spare them of any catastrophes.

"We cannot stay here!" Boromir agreed "This will be the death of the hobbits!" It was a statement that seemed increasingly true when observing the pale and shivering forms which didn't even have shoes to warm and protect their feet from the cold snow.

"No!" Gandalf replied, standing up to counter the white wizard's magic. Iri could feel the magic crackling in the air, as Gandalf's and Saruman's deep voices intoned spells in a language few remember, each trying to overpower the other. The build-up of combating magic seemed to reach a standstill until another bolt of lightening struck the mountain once again, creating a larger downpour of rock and snow. The company desperately threw themselves away from the edge and towards the wall of the mountain, hoping to avoid the worst of the avalanche as large boulders and snow ripped off parts of the path and covered the rest of the small ledge they were on.

When the avalanche subsided the fellowship struggled to reach the surface and helped unbury those still under the heavy amount of snow. It was clear to everyone that pursuing this course would be the death of them all.

It wasn't even an hour later that the company began their descent of the mountain. Caradhras had defeated them.

* * *

And thus ends another chapter. Only a few more chapters of The Fellowship, and The Two Towers should start chapter 18.

Sorry for the long wait; I'll try and have the next chapter done sooner.


	15. Wargs, Orcs and Balrogs, Oh My!

**A/N: Elvish is in **_**italics**_

**Over 100 reviews! Yay! I feel so happy:) Anyway, sorry for the long wait, but I've been busy with exams. **

**For simplicity's sake, only Gandalf (and Saruman) will be referred to as wizards. So if I say 'the wizard danced the mambo' I'm not talking about Iri or the other dimension travellers. **

**Sorry for the long wait, but as I've said, I've been busy (shrugs). I won't have much time to update during the summer either, so I'll probably only update once or twice this summer and focus more on editing previous chapters. Frequent updates will probably have to wait until September. Sorry about that. **

**Thanks for all those that reviewed, and remember, I'm still looking for a beta!**

**Enjoy.**

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_**Eriador**_

_**January 11, 3018 T.A.**_

It didn't seem to take half as long descending the mountain as it did ascending. The company, the hobbits in particular, were grateful for the gradual decrease of snow and wind and the increase in temperature. When they had finally arrived at the base of the mountain, they set up camp and decided their new path.

"I still stand by taking the route through the Gap of Rohan. It will ensure our swift arrival to Minas Tirith where not only will we and the Ring be protected, but it will also give us a position of strength to attack from."

"And I still say that that road will take us too close to Isengard and Saruman." Aragorn retorted.

"And what route do you suggest then?" Boromir asked "We were already unable to pass over the mountain."

"If we cannot pass over the mountain," Gimli said "then let us go under it. Let's go through the mines of Moria."

Gandalf contemplated what the others said for a moment, and then spoke. "Let the Ring bearer decide."

Everyone turned to a slightly uncomfortable Frodo for the final decision. "We will go through the mines."

Gandalf sighed wearily. "So be it."

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Eager to start moving again (especially since a few precious days were wasted on the mountain), the fellowship continued on their way until night fall. They became even more anxious to move when they heard the howling of wargs (wolf-like animals nost of which are servants of Sauron). Finally they decided to make camp at the top of a small hill, where a small clearing which was surrounded by a ring of stone boulders lay. Since the wargs would undoubtedly be able to track them from their scent, the company lit a fire, deciding that it couldn't do any more harm.

It wasn't long before the howls became closer and louder, and the fellowship could see luminous eyes surrounding them. Finally a large warg broke from the trees and moved to the edge of the clearing, emitting a long howl as if to warn troops to be ready to attack. Gandalf stood and brandished his staff. "Listen Hound of Sauron! Gandalf is here. Fly if you value your foul skin! I will shrivel you from tail to snout if you come within this ring."

The warg growled in response and with a mighty leap, sprang towards the fellowship. Few even had enough time to blink before a loud twang was heard, and the warg thudded lifeless to the ground, an elvish arrow through its throat. The watching eyes retreated, and no more howls were heard. With Boromir keeping the first watch, the company fell asleep.

Frodo woke suddenly from his slumber. From the position of the moon, he could tell that morning was fast approaching, maybe a little under an hour before sunrise. From all around a cacophony of howls rang in the night. A host of wargs had surrounded them once again, and were now attacking from every direction.

"Fling fuel on the fire!" Gandalf yelled to the hobbits who had little to no experience in these types of situations. "Draw your blades and stand back to back."

Iri watched as Aragorn thrust his sword through a warg's jugular, and then side stepped the jaws of another. Boromir wasted no time in stabbing it through its side before turning his attention to another beast. Gimli, Legolas and Gandalf were killing their fair share of the beasts as well; the twang of Legolas' bow was a constant source of noise and the pile of dead wargs by Gimli was getting larger than the dwarf responsible for it. As for Iri, though he had plenty of experience in battle so that he was alert and calm, he couldn't fight half as well with his weapons as he used to in his own world with magic. The only weapon he was good at (his bow) was out of his reach thanks to the numerous amount of wargs. But then Iri noticed that the wargs were leaving the hobbits well enough alone due to fear of the fire they had taken shelter beside. Iri concentrated on his magic and sent the fire towards a group of nearby wargs. The wolf-like creatures yelped as their fur caught fire. Panicked, they retreated and tried to stop the flames from spreading. Seeing that his attack worked. Iri continued to manipulate the fire towards their attackers. Finally, as Legolas let loose another arrow, which caught fire mid-air and pierced the heart of the wolf-chieftain, the wargs retreated and fled. Iri released control on the fire and allowed it to falter and die, feeling as if he hadn't slept in a week. Vaguely Iri noticed Sam and Pippin talking and Aragorn and Legolas scanning the area for any more foes. Iri let the others take care of things, as he lay down and instantly fell asleep.

When he next woke it was morning and all signs of the wargs were gone. Besides the scorched grass and trees, the small pools of blood and Legolas' arrows (which were in a pile at the top of the hill), none could tell that a battle had taken place a few hours ago.

"It is as I feared," Gandalf said "these were no ordinary wolfs hunting for food in the wilderness. Let us eat quickly and go!"

The fellowship quickly left, knowing that if they didn't reach Moria before sunset, they were likely to be attacked by wargs again. The sun was setting when they finally caught sight of the flat grey wall on which the entrance to Moria was hidden. Iri's appreciation of the awesome sight was slightly diminished after overhearing Boromir mumble something about being caught between wolves and the wall. That statement only seemed more likely when the company reached the Wall of Moria and could find no trace of a door.

"Dwarf doors are invisible when closed." Gimli explained, periodically taping his awe against the stone for some sign of the hidden doors.

"Yes, even so their own masters can't find them." Gandalf said. "And their location has now all but been forgotten."

"Why is that not a surprise…" Legolas muttered.

Besides shooting the elf a contemptuous look, the dwarf ignored the jab and continued his search for the elusive doors. Finally Gandalf paused at a section in the wall between two holly trees. "Ithilden, it mirrors only starlight and moonlight…"

As Gandalf spoke, the moon broke through the clouds and the reflecting light allowed the fellowship to see the shining outline of an arch decorated with ancient lettering and symbols.

"It reads," Gandalf said "the Doors of Durin, lord of Moria, speak friend and enter."

"What do you suppose that means?" Merry asked.

"Well, it's quite simple. If you are a friend you speak the password and the doors will open."

With that said, Gandalf placed his staff against the doors and started chanting in an unknown language (to Iri at least). Unfortunately nothing happened. So Gandalf tried again. He tried again using different words, different languages, different pronunciations and tones (and combinations of all of the above). Needless to say, the fellowship was waiting for some time.

While Gandalf tried (so far unsuccessfully) to open the doors, Aragorn and Sam were unloading Bill, since they couldn't take the loyal pony into the mines with them (much to Sam's displeasure). Boromir was then sorting the equipment into what they needed to take, and what they could leave behind. Legolas and Gimli stayed with Gandalf, trying to help him as much as possible by giving advice and suggestions (since the doors were made by elves and dwarves, when both species got along well). Merry and Pippin quickly became bored and restless and started competing who could throw stones the furthest into the dark lake beside them. Seeing what the two young hobbits were up to, Aragorn grabbed hold of Pippin's hand before he could complete his next toss.

"Do not disturb the water." Aragorn warned them, unable to say exactly why he felt so apprehensive about the murky depths.

Suddenly Frodo, who had stayed with Gandalf by the doors stood up, looking at the doors as if he had just noticed them there.

"It's a riddle…" Frodo muttered. "Speak friend, and enter." He turned to face Gandalf. "What's the elvish word for friend?"

Understanding crept into Gandalf's eyes as he spoke loud and clear. "Mellon."

There was the sound of heavy stone grinding against each other as the mighty doors swung open. Everyone stood up, happy to finally be able to continue on. Gandalf led the way, everyone else trailing behind as they entered the mines.

The air was stuffy and stale, making Iri dread going further if it was this bad at only a few meters into the mines.

"Soon Master Elf," Gimli began, seemingly undisturbed by the dark and creepy atmosphere "you will enjoy the fabled hospitality of the dwarves. Roaring fires! Malt beer! Red meat off the bone! This is the home of my cousin Balin, and they call it a mine! A mine!"

Iri only listened to Gimli's speech with half an ear – he could see shapes on the ground, but it was too dark to know exactly what they were. It was Boromir who first figured it out.

"This is no mine," the Gondorian stated, looking around "it's a tomb."

Iri took a closer look at his surroundings, seeing that the Gondorian was indeed correct – the shapes on the ground were the decaying bodies of slain dwarves. Legolas pulled out an orcish arrow from one of the bodies. "_Yrchs_!" the elf spat in disgust.

"We make for the Gap of Rohan," Boromir stated, looking around the mine warily "we should have never come here. Now get out of here! Get out!"

The hobbits, who were the closest to the exit began shuffling backwards, unsure of what to do. Before they could decide, a slimy pale green tentacle, which had slithered unnoticed from the water, made itself known by wrapping around Frodo's ankle and yanking the poor hobbit towards the water. It was Sam's startled yell which brought the others running from inside the mine. By the time they reached the hobbits, the creature had dragged Frodo to the water's edge, where Merry and Pippin had a secure grasp of their friend to prevent him going further and Sam had finally succeeded in cutting off the limb attached to his master.

Unfortunately, the creature hadn't conceded defeat yet. Only moments after Frodo was free, at least a dozen new tentacles sprang from the water, knocking everyone else back and taking the Ring-bearer once more. Iri and Legolas began shooting at the tentacles, hoping that the monster would drop the hobbit and retreat, while Aragorn and Boromir began hewing and hacking at tentacles on their way towards Frodo. Finally, Aragorn cut off the limb holding Frodo, causing the hobbit to fall into Boromir's arms.

"Into the mines!" Gandalf yelled, hoping to find some shelter from the beast. Everyone followed the command and were soon rushing into the darkness as swiftly as possible, Frodo still in the arms of the Gondorian captain.

The creatures many tentacles followed them, reaching the great doors to the mines and slamming them shut, creating a small cave-in which blocked the exit. Everyone stood silent and still for the moment, catching their breaths from the close call, until Gandalf interrupted it.

"We have now but one choice," the grey wizard said, lighting the end of his staff to give off light as he spoke "we must face the long dark of Moria. Be on your guard. There are older and fouler things than orcs in the deep places of the world."

With those words Gandalf walked off, leading the company deeper into the mines.

"Quietly now," their guide advised "it's a four day journey to the other side. Let us hope that our presence here may go unnoticed."

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_**Moria**_

**_January 15, 3019 T.A._**

This had to be Iri's least favorite part of the journey so far. While he usually had no problems with the dark, traveling for days on end with only the faint glow of Gandalf's staff as the only source of light was rather uncomfortable. Add the fact that the air was rather stale and dank (and the smell of rotting corpses didn't help), and that for the past half hour they had been stuck, since Gandalf had forgotten which way to go – well, on the whole, the ex-wizard would have preferred to be elsewhere.

Gimli seemed to be the only one enjoying their time in the mines thus far – to him Moria was an ancient and sacred place filled with secrets and treasures from his people's past, and therefore the dwarf was more than pleased to find himself within its depths.

That's not to say that the entire journey within the mines was terrible. Every now and then the fellowship would come across something from either the old dwarfish kingdom which had resided there, or from the newer settlement that Balin was trying to establish. It was interesting to see and learn about the dwarfish culture – like the first time Iri saw mithril; a metal that as far as he knew, didn't exist on Earth, but was apparently stronger than diamond but easier to craft and far more useful and rare.

Iri sighed quietly. He was bored. Presently, everyone was just sitting around while Gandalf tried to spur his memory. A flash of movement from the corner of his eye caused Iri to abruptly sit up. From the way Frodo was peering over the ledge, he wasn't the only one who had seen it. A few moments later Iri and Frodo caught sight of it again – it was a figure, about the size of a hobbit, which was using its hands and feet to leap from rock to rock, progressively making its way towards the fellowship. Iri and Frodo shared a glance before quickly making their way to Gandalf.

"There's something down there!" Frodo told the grey wizard.

"I know," Gandalf calmly replied "it's Gollum."

"Gollum?" Iri asked, trying to remember what he'd been told about the creature Bilbo had tricked and stolen the ring from.

"Yes. He's been following us for three days." Gandalf elaborated.

"He escaped the dungeons of Barad-Dûr?" Frodo asked incredulously.

"Escaped?" Gandalf asked "Or set loose?"

Iri and Frodo were struck mute, figuring out the meanings of Gandalf's implied statement. Gandalf took the opportunity to continue talking.

"And now the Ring had drawn him here. He will never be rid of his need for it. He hates and loves the Ring, as he hates and loves himself. Sméagol's life is a sad story. Yes, Sméagol he was once called." Gandalf continued, addressing Iri's and Frodo's looks. "Before the Ring found him...before it drove him mad."

" It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill him when he had the chance!" Frodo exclaimed, the stress from the situation bleeding into his voice.

Gandalf gave Frodo a sharp look. "Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death, and some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo Baggins?"

Frodo became silent after that, thinking over the wise wizard's words and feeling properly chastised.

"Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment." Gandalf continued. "Even the very wise can not see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play yet, before this is over, for good or ill. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many."

Feeling the weight of his destiny, Frodo sat down next to Gandalf. "I wish the Ring had never come to me." They young hobbit said sorrowfully "I wish none of this had happened."

"So do all who live to see such times," Gandalf responded, leaning towards Frodo in a supportive and grandfatherly manner "but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, in which case you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought."

Iri watched the scene between Gandalf and Frodo with nostalgic fondness. He could practically see himself as a teenager in Frodo's position and hear Dumbledore's advice in Gandalf's words.

While Frodo silently processed Gandalf's words and Iri became lost in old memories, the old wizard suddenly cried out in triumph.

"Ah! It's that way!" Gandalf said, indicating the right-most tunnel.

Glad to finally be moving again, the company set out once again, hopefully for the last time before leaving the mines. After about an hour long march, the fellowship found themselves within a large, cavernous room.

"Let me risk a little more light…" Gandalf murmured, increasing the glow of his staff. The extra light allowed the company to see more of the great hall they were in; the large pillars reaching further up than they could see and the beautifully carved arches. They all stood in awe of the grand sight.

"Behold! The great realm and Dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf!" Gandalf announced.

"Now there's an eye-opener and no mistake." Sam muttered to Frodo.

They shook themselves out of their stupor and began making their way through the hall. Part way there, Gimli, catching sight of an adjacent room, yelled out and ran from the company.

"Gimli!" Gandalf called, following the dwarf into the room. There, Gandalf and the others found the dwarf sobbing over a crypt. Iri looked around – there were many decaying bodies and weapons lying around. Gandalf strode forward to look at the writing upon the crypt.

"Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria." Gandalf translated. "He is dead then – it is as I feared." Ignoring Gimli's distress for the moment, the wizard handed Pippin his staff and hat before taking a large and dusty book from the grasp of a corpse.

Legolas looked around in agitation. "We must move on, we cannot linger!" The elf muttered to Aragorn, shooting an indiscernible look at the grieving dwarf. Before the ranger could reply Gandalf began reading from the book out loud.

"They have taken the bridge. And the second hall. We have barred the gates, but we cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes. Drums, drums in the deep. We cannot get out. A shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out…They are coming."

The fellowship stood in an uncomfortable silence after hearing the ominous and disturbing last moments of the dwarves which had died.

Suddenly a loud crash breaks the silence. Iri turned around to see Pippin at the far side of the room, next to an old well and headless corpse. From Pippin's shocked and guilty expression, it was easy to figure out that the hobbit accidentally knocked the corpse's skull down the well. But as Pippin turned to face everyone, the rest of the corpse followed the skull into the well, dragging a chain and bucket along with it. The noise ricochets off of various caverns and halls, seemingly filling every nook and cranny of Moria with its loud echoes. Pippin winced with each sound.

After an endlessly tense moment, in which everyone strained to hear the sound of the enemy swarming upon them, the company relaxed and let out the breath they were holding.

"Fool of a Took!" Gandalf exclaimed, slamming the book shut and putting it down. "Throw yourself in next time, and rid us of your stupidity!" he yelled, taking back his hat and staff. The wizard hadn't even taken two steps away from the youngest hobbit before a resounding BOOM was heard.

The company froze in their shoes, straining to hear where it came from, half-hoping it was just a figment of their imagination. But sure enough, the first BOOM was then answered by two more.

The fellowship looked around in fear, as the drum beats echoed through the mines, sounding as if they came from everywhere.

BOOM!

"Frodo!" Sam yelled, indicating his master's dagger.

BOOM! BOOM!

Frodo unsheathed Sting, allowing the company to see the glowing blue blade.

Boom-Boom-BOOM-BOOM!

"Orcs!" Legolas yelled, hearing the distant battle cries of his people's enemy.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

The beats of the drum were getting steadily louder and numerous. Boromir ran to the entrance of the room, looking to see how close the enemy was. The Gondorian was almost skewered by arrows for his efforts.

Aragorn dropped his torch and ran to help the other human, yelling at the hobbits as he ran. "Get back! Stay close to Gandalf!"

Boromir hurried to close the old rotting doors, announcing what he saw to the approaching ranger. "They have a cave troll!"

Legolas began throwing the two humans weapons of the fallen dwarves to use for strengthening the doors by barring them shut. The others pull out their miscellaneous weapons, preparing for the battle ahead. It isn't long before orcs begin pounding on the other side of the door, trying to get in.

"Aarrggh! Let them come!" Gimli exclaimed "There is one dwarf yet in Moria who still draws breath!"

The pounding of the enemy weakens the doors until bits of wood breaks off, leaving spaces where orcs brandish their weapons. The twang of arrows brings a few deaths to the orcs closest to the doors, where Iri, Legolas and Aragorn were shooting at the spaces in the doors that the creatures had created.

Finally, the doors were no longer able to hold back the enemy, and a swarm of orcs come rushing in. Aragorn, Iri and Legolas shot as many as possible before the enemy was upon them, but were then forced to give up their bows and join the others fighting with their swords.

Iri suddenly found himself in the middle of the battle – it was very chaotic, with orcs dying left, right and center. He knew that as much as he tried, he still wasn't that proficient with a sword and was just barely avoiding getting maimed, let alone slaying orcs at the speed the experienced members of the fellowship (a.k.a. everyone but Iri and the hobbits) were doing.

At the corner of his eye, Iri noticed an orc leading a massive cave troll from a chain into the room. The troll was so large, that in order to get in, it broke the doorway. Legolas shot it in the chest, but the troll ignored it as if he only got pricked. Its beady eyes fixed on Sam, who was frozen solid in the shadow of the large creature. But just as the troll was bringing its large club down on the hobbit, Sam dove between its legs to safety. It lumbered after the fleeing hobbit, trying to crush him underfoot when Sam was saved by Boromir and Aragorn pulling on the chain attached to the troll's collar. That only made the troll go after them instead; using a mighty swing which caught Boromir in the stomach and sent him flying across the room into a wall. Gimli was the next person to take on the troll, throwing his ax at it, where it became imbedded in the troll's large shoulder. Unfortunately, the axe didn't seem to make any impression on the troll who never faltered in trying to smash the dwarf. With much dodging and a bit of luck, Gimli was able to escape unscathed with a number of orcs taking the brunt of the troll's attack.

Iri was too distracted fighting orcs to see how Legolas fared as the troll went after him next, but he was confidant that the elven prince would not do too badly. It wasn't until the cave-troll set its sight on the hobbits that Iri was once again fully aware of it.

Merry and Pippin tried to keep Frodo from harm's way, but the troll was able to separate the ring-bearer from his companions. As the large brute advanced upon him, Frodo felt a sudden warmth fill him and brandished his blade. "For the Shire!" Frodo yelled as he leapt forward and stabbed the cave-troll in the foot. The troll reared back in pain, yelling out his fury. Frodo tried to get away as the troll sought his revenge, but was unable to avoid the spear that the troll tried to skewer him with.

The rest of the fellowship stared with stunned disbelief as Frodo was pierced. The hobbit seemed to fall in slow-motion as the troll left him for dead. No words were needed as the company advanced upon the cave-troll for retribution. The remaining orcs were taking down swiftly and carelessly, as if they were merely flies in their way. Merry and Pippin jumped on the cave-troll's back and stabbed it over and over again in the back of the neck. Unfortunately, their blades did not do much damage on the thick hide of the troll (unlike Frodo's enchanted blade). The cave-troll reached back and threw Merry across the room. The rest of the fellowship surrounded the troll, attacking with swords, arrows and in Gimli's case, an axe. Finally the troll was defeated.

They had barely waited for the troll to take its final breath before rushing towards the ring-bearer. Aragorn got there first and turned the hobbit over to see if there was anything he could do. Everyone was surprised when Frodo appeared to be not only alive, bu relatively unharmed.

"I'm alright, I'm not hurt." Frodo told everyone, trying to reassure his stunned companions.

"You should be dead!" Aragorn spoke in disbelief "That spear would have skewered a wild boar!"

"It thankfully did not skewer me," Frodo replied, panting slightly "but I still feel as though I've been caught between a hammer and an anvil." Though Frodo had not even received a scratch thanks to his gift from Bilbo, he was sure to get a nasty bruise (which the hobbit could already feel forming) and in the meantime found breathing painful.

"You take after Bilbo," Gandalf said, with a twinkle in his eye. "There is more about you than meets the eye."

Sure enough, Frodo lifted up his shirt to reveal the shirt made of mithril that he was wearing.

"Mithril!" Gimli exclaimed in shock. "You are full of surprises Master Baggins!"

Gandalf looked around wearily at the sound of approaching orcs. "We have spent too much time here. Quick, to the Bridge of Khazad-Dûm!"

The fellowship quickly grabbed there belongings and left the chamber for the great hall. They had only run a few hundred meters before they were once again surrounded by orcs, this time in far greater numbers. Though the situation seemed hopeless, the company formed a tight circle, each facing outwards with their weapons at the ready to fight to the death.

Before the snarling and leering orcs attacked, there was a loud rumble. The orcs looked around nervously as another, closer, rumble was heard, and at the end of the hall a flicker of flame could be seen. The orcs panicked and quickly fled, leaving the fellowship alone in the hall as the rumbles became increasingly louder and the fire increasingly brighter.

"What is this new devilry?" Boromir asked.

Gandalf seemed almost reluctant to admit what was steadily approaching the hall. "A Blarog – a demon of the ancient world."

Only Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn seemed to know what in the world that was – and judging from their expressions it was not something that they wanted to meet, ever.

"This foe is beyond any of you." Gandalf told them. "Run!"

The company took no time following the order as they sprinted towards the Bridge of Khazad-Dûm. When they reached the end of the hall, Gandalf stopped to let the rest of the fellowship go through first. As they ran past, the wizard stopped Aragorn with a hand on his shoulder. "Lead them on Aragorn. The bridge is near." The ranger hesitated, looking torn as to what he should do. Gandalf roughly pushed him away yelling "Do as I say! Swords are of no more use here."

The fellowship continued their trek down steep stairs, through winding paths and around missing sections, all while trying to keep ahead of the demon which was steadily gaining on them, if the rumbling growls were anything to go by.

Iri stopped as he reached a section in their path which fell away to nothing. He, along with the rest of the fellowship, found themselves on a set of stairs which would lead to the bridge of Khazad-dûm. Unfortunately, there was nothing besides a thousand meter drop on either side, an approaching Balrog from the back, and a gap of about two meters until the next section of the stairs in the front. While Iri was usually comfortable with heights, looking down at the gap and seeing no bottom whatsoever was somewhat disconcerting.

Iri's thoughts were interrupted in the form of Legolas, who hopped over the gap as if he did it everyday. The elf looked back and gave Iri an encouraging look, telling with no words that he would catch him. Iri felt his chin lift at the unspoken challenge. He had done enough life-defying stunts and been though too many near-death experiences to be afraid to now! Taking no more time Iri jumped across, landing easily on his feet beside the blond prince. Legolas gave Iri a look of surprise/amusement/exasperation, to which Iri simply raised an eyebrow.

Unfortunately a group of orcs ruined their moment by shooting at the fellowship from behind some pillars on a higher level. As Iri returned fire, Legolas caught Gandalf as he jumped over to their side of the gap. Legolas then took out his own bow to help Iri with the remaining orcs. Taking advantage of the distracted orcs, Boromir grabbed Merry and Pippin and jumped over the gap. But as the Gondorian jumped, the edge of the stairs (from the side he jumped from) crumbled and fell, making the gap grow to a three meter distance. Aragorn grabbed hold of Sam and tossed him across the gap where Boromir caught him. But as he reached for the Gimli, the dwarf swatted his hand away.

"Nobody tosses a dwarf!"

With that said, Gimli gave a mighty roar and leapt across the chasm. His feet reached the edge of the other side, but the dwarf was unable to keep his balance and began falling backwards. Legolas reached forward and yanked the dwarf to safety by his beard (much to Gimli's dismay).

Just then the loud rumblings of the Balrog became so close that the fellowship could feel the ground trembling. That caused the already crumbling stairs to deteriorate some more, once again increasing the gap, this time to a staggering 5 meters. Everyone looked across the gap in dismay – how were Aragorn and Frodo ever be able to cross that distance?

As the balrog approached more and more rocks fell due to the heavy footsteps and deep rumblings. One such falling boulder happened to hit the section of the stairs right behind where Aragorn and Frodo stood – causing their section of the stairs to have an unstable foundation and wobble dangerously.

"Hang on!" Aragorn told Frodo, getting an idea. "Lean forward!"

The slight shift in weight from the ranger and the hobbit tipped the stairs towards the others, until they were able to safely jump into the rest of the fellowship's waiting arms.

The company didn't get the time to celebrate after the near-death experience, since the Balrog was getting increasingly nearer and no matter how many orcs Iri and Legolas shot down, more seemed to take their place and make arrows rain down upon them. Finally the fellowship reached the bridge.

"Over the bridge!" Gandalf directed them, seeing a pillar of flame in the corner of his eye. "Fly!"

The company quickly ran across, not noticing that the wizard only followed them up to half-way across; choosing instead to hold his ground and calmly wait for the approaching demon.

At first the demon seemed to be nothing but a wall of fire, until a great shadow appeared within it, slowly taking shape to become a large horned demon, something which only could be imagined in your worst nightmare.

"You cannot pass!"

The wizard's words stopped everyone in their path – including the fleeing fellowship who noticed for the first time that Gandalf was not among them and was now facing the balrog on his own.

"Gandalf!" Unable to stand the thought of what could happen to his pseudo-grandfather Frodo tried desperately to return to the old wizard's side. But he was held back by Boromir who realized that there was nothing any of them could do.

"I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Arnor. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn!" Mithrandir yelled. The Balrog did not heed the istari's words and instead struck out at his foe with a large sword of fire. Gandalf was able to block the attack, forcing the Balrog to take a step back. Clearly displeased with his lack of progress, the demon roared out his fury to the unfazed wizard.

"Go back to the Shadow!" Gandalf tried commanding it once again.

And again the balrog ignored the wizard and stepped forward onto the bridge, this time brandishing a whip of fire. The rest of the company watched the confrontation on pins and needles – they desperately wished to help but knew that they would probably be more of a hindrance to Mithrandir than an aid. Just when they were about to run back to help Gandalf anyway, the wizard made his move.

"You shall not pass!"

With that said, Gandalf brought down his staff against the bridge sharply and with much force. His staff broke and fell from the istari's hands. A blinding wall of white flame sprang up between the wizard and the Balrog. The bridge cracked and broke from under the demon's feet, making the Blarog fall down into the abyss with a terrible cry. But as it fell, it struck out at it's foe one last time, catching Gandalf around his knees and dragging him down as well. Mithrandir vainly grasped at the rock, trying to save himself. He looked out at the rest of the fellowship.

"Fly you fools!"

And he was gone.

* * *

About reviews: I appreciate all reviews, good and bad, so keep them coming. I usually don't reply to reviews unless they contain a specific statement or question in terms of the story, so a review of just 'good job' won't get a reply (but I still appreciate them!). If you post an anonymous review that I feel I should answer, I'll post my response at the end of the next chapter. The rest, I'll reply to directly, either just before or just after I post the next chapter (that way it's easier for me to remember which reviews I already answered).

Dragon: While I agree that their wizard powers are an important part of the HP world, I don't think it would work in this story and so I won't be giving them their powers back. They'd be too strong with them; they could just make a porkey to Mount Doom, drop the ring off and be done. (I'm assuming that since the ME world has nothing like porkey, that they have nothing to defend against it/stop them from doing it). I do believe that magic is integral to their personalities as well; so they do have magic, but they just can't manipulate it. Basically they're the same with a few improvements (e.g. keener senses), with no wands and unable to do wandless magic. You are right about how they should feel more of an impact with the abrupt change in lifestyle; when I edit the earlier chapters I'll take that into consideration.

ranni: I'm going to edit the beginning chapters, hopefully it won't be so dull. And Harry is the main charater from whenever-he-ended-up-in-middle-earth on.

Lisa : Looking back, I can definitely see how you can find areas dry and boring. Eventually I'm going to go back and edit/rewrite the earlier chapters and hopefully it won't be so bad.


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